§ Mr. Frank R. Whiteasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the length of time taken in each area of the North-West regional health authority before applicants to be registered as blind persons can be dealt with through hospital services or home visit by an ophthalmologist.
§ Sir George YoungThe responsibility for registering blind people, and referring applicants for registration to ophthalmologists, lies with local authorities, and the information requested is not held centrally. However, I understand that applicants from areas in the North-West may wait an average of three weeks to be seen by an ophthalmologist for the purpose of registration. Moreover, people do not have to be registered to receive services provided for the blind by local authority social services departments.
§ Mr. Frank R. Whiteasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many social workers to the blind there are in each area of the North-West ; and how many advisers in his Department are concerned with the welfare of the blind.
§ Mr. PrenticeIt is not practicable to give figures since in many areas work with the visually handicapped and their306W families forms part of the task of generic social work teams. Within the Department a multi-disciplinary team including doctors, nurses, social work service officers, administrators and others is concerned with the welfare of blind people, the composition of the team varying with the issue in question ; and the regional social work service is also involved on occasion.