Estimating the unit costs of vision rehabilitation services

Sight loss is a major health issue that impacts on all aspects of wellbeing including daily functioning and mental health. Vision rehabilitation services aim to help people learn how to live as independently as possible, to build confidence and to maintain quality of life following full or partial sight loss. Vision rehabilitation services are provided by qualified vision rehabilitation officers. The services they offer include a range of interventions such as: orientation and mobility training; emotional support; communication skills; independent living skills; equipment training; and risk assessments. Vision rehabilitation services are usually funded by local councils and provided either by in-house teams or contracted-out services. As with other preventive services, early access to vision rehabilitation is recommended (ADASS, 2013; Vision2020UK, 2013; UK Vision Strategy Advisory Group, 2013). A literature review undertaken as part of a wider study (Rabiee et al., 2015) showed that there have been few economic studies of vision rehabilitation services and none that estimates unit costs. This short article therefore uses data from Rabiee et al. (2015) to estimate the unit costs of vision rehabilitation services in England. The calculations are based on detailed data from three case studies with additional data collected from a national survey.