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IN TOUCH – The Support Hub; The RNIB's Helpline Services

TX:Ìý 27.06.2023Ìý 2040-2100

PRESENTER:Ìý ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý BETH HEMMINGS

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PRODUCER:ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý BETH HEMMINGS

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Hemmings

Hi there, I’m Beth Hemmings, coming up:

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Clip

Is there any emotional support available, it might be best for you to have a one-off mental health check-in first of all.

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Yeah, because losing my licence has obviously made me very…yeah.

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Yeah, it’s your independence, isn’t it?

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Exactly, yeah.

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Hemmings

I take a peek behind the curtain at the RNIB’s helpline, a service that aims to help people through the most challenging moments of sight loss.

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But first, many of you tell us about your frustrations with having to give the same information about your access needs over and over again to different companies or sometimes even the same one.Ìý Like this example from Mike Lambert when he was dealing with the Department for Work and Pensions.

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Lambert

Not having my request listened to, getting print letters, getting scanned documents.Ìý And the latest thing is that they send me things which my JAW software tells me more or less not to open, it’s a warning, un-virus checked documents.

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Hemmings

And this from Jane Ibbunson

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Ibbunson

In 2018 I tried to open a business account with a big named bank.Ìý This initially took several months because they were not confident they could offer an appropriate service to a blind person.Ìý When the account was up and running, it was challenging as they were not able to provide any audio or large print products.Ìý I was often told that I should ask someone I trust to do it for me!Ìý Would they give that response to a customer who is not blind?Ìý The whole process has cost me time and money and frankly, brought me to tears of frustration.

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Hemmings

Well, Experian, the company perhaps best known for checking your credit score, have tried to come up with a solution to this persistent problem.Ìý They’ve launched something called the Support Hub, which aims to be a one-stop shop to tell multiple organisations how you need to access their day-to-day services and they’ll distribute that information for you.Ìý

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Paul Lamont is Experian’s product director and he joins me.

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Paul, welcome to In Touch.Ìý What kinds of information can visually impaired people give to the support hub?

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Lamont

When we launched the pilot we focused on sight, hearing and mental health and dementia and specifically for blind consumers, it’s not about notifying an organisation like your bank – I’m blind – it’s more around – I may need some support in the way that you communicate with me, I might need braille or some other form of communication outside of standard communications, I might need some assistance when I’m in branch, etc. etc.Ìý It’s allowing consumers to set up their support needs, how they want to be supported by organisations, and that information can be distributed clearly to a variety of organisations in one simple process.

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Hemmings

Okay.Ìý And so, what industries are involved at the moment?

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Lamont

We’ve just come out of our pilot, which has been really successful and that’s focused primarily on the financial services space, so we’ve worked with a number of the UK’s largest banks and lenders, we’re now also working or extending out into the utility space, so that’s energy and water companies, the telecoms space and the retail sector as well.Ìý And I have to say, it’s really exciting to see how all of these difference industries are united in their desire to help consumers and provide more accessible services so, we’re seeing a great deal of interest.

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Hemmings

Great.Ìý My next question was going to be – how far is it going to be broadened out.Ìý I mean I’m reading a list here – government services, emergency services, charities, supermarkets.Ìý Are all of those also available now?

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Lamont

They’re not available at this moment, we’re just in that phase of scaling out to these other industries outside of financial services.Ìý There’s a very strong desire for consumers to share this type of information with government services, emergency services and so on.Ìý And so, this is something that we’re also exploring at the moment.

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Hemmings

Paul, we hear a lot, on the In Touch programme, about the NHS and how people’s access information often gets lost between different departments there, will it eventually cover healthcare as well?

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Lamont

It’s fair to say that there’s a very strong desire for that information to be shared.Ìý At the moment we don’t work directly with the NHS, I think it’s something that we’d certainly be very open to.

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Hemmings

Okay.Ìý Paul, stay there.Ìý I’d like to bring in Pardy Gill, who’s tried out the support hub.Ìý Pardy, first of all, what kind of problems do you usually have when you’re dealing with your service providers?

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Gill

Hi Beth.Ìý So, I’ve gone through the difficult phase of having no useful vision and so, I’ve gone through that horrendous process of going through various organisations, different customer service teams, perhaps, who don’t understand accessibility and it’s very, very frustrating, as listeners can resonate with.Ìý And I was very excited by this one-stop process on one platform.Ìý I went in with an open mind and I was asked to test the functionality accessibility.Ìý There was one or two bugs along the way but you expect that in a [indistinct word] testing. ÌýWhen organisations contact me, I can let them know that I can’t respond in writing to letters or post.Ìý My sight support needs, for example, could revolve around I require digital audio CD or large giant print, braille grade one or two.Ìý And my real positive hope is getting more providers on board which would get best practice on accessibility.

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Hemmings

So, did you actually hear back from any of the organisations that you registered?

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Gill

I did, there was a national bank on there, that I was a customer with and I got an email confirmation once they received my support needs and also received a confirmation that my support needs had been met.

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Hemmings

Paul, Pardy is a very tech savvy blind person but a lot of other people may not be, at the moment, I believe, the support hub is only available as an online offering, so will someone be able to call up, say, in the future?

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Lamont

We have started with a digital service.Ìý In fact, a lot of consumers prefer that digital channel but, at the same time, there are also very much consumers that would prefer a conversation, you know, whether that’s in person or on the telephone.Ìý And so, what we’re doing now is we’re exploring a…should I say, we’re actually developing out a solution where consumers can work with some of our partner charities and perhaps even, in the future, the very organisations they want to share with and have that conversation and that information then feeds through to support hub, so it’s very much something which will be solving for in the future.

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Hemmings

So, it’s not so much that Experian themselves will have a dedicated phone line, it’ll be a case where the individual will then have to go through a third party, surely that’s not going to be as efficient?

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Lamont

What we have seen from the research and from the feedback in the pilot is that consumers want to be able to work with organisations and service providers often that deliver the service, that engenders a lot of trust.Ìý And so, that’s what we would lead with initially.Ìý You know, we’re at the early stages of the product’s evolution, as we grow, we’ll be adding additional functionality, making sure that we’re accessible to a wider set of users as well.

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Hemmings

Finally, Paul, where do people go to use the service?

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Lamont

You can go to , that is a website hosted by Experian.

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Hemmings

Okay.Ìý Paul Lamont, Pardy Gill, thank you very much indeed.

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Now, if you heard last week’s programme, you’ll likely remember the story of outdoor adventurer Wayne Pugh.Ìý When he suddenly lost his sight 13 years ago, he was in complete despair and wasn’t sure where to turn.Ìý Many of you may recognise that feeling from your own experiences of sight loss and so we thought we’d take a lot behind the scenes at the RNIB’s helpline services.Ìý Its aim is to support you through every moment of sight loss but especially those more difficult periods.Ìý And many of you have been telling us about your very positive experiences of using it, be it through their sight loss advice service, which provides support with things like benefits, education and work or through their more general helpline, which deals with things like Talking Books and some assistive tech.

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Well, I recently paid a visit to the helpline’s base in Peterborough.

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Copestake

This is the helpline. [General chatter]

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So, we have 18 desks with people sitting at them talking to our customers.Ìý There’s training going on, it’s very busy.Ìý We overlook a really lovely park.

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We want people to have a nice environment, to be happy and feel passionate when they’re coming in talking to our customers.

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Hemmings

That’s Zoe Copestake, she is a senior manager within the helpline, we’ll hear more from her later and about the side of the service that she managers.Ìý But first, I wanted to talk to some of the people who are answering your calls and are regarded as the frontline voices to the RNIB.

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Bothwell

I’m Sharon Bothwell, I’m a sight loss advisor.Ìý Came to the sight loss advice team in 2021 but previously, I had been on the helpline for three years, so I had a brush stroke knowledge of the organisation and outside organisations and places we could signpost people to.Ìý But when I moved on to sight loss advice team then I – more in-depth advice and where to refer people and local authorities.Ìý But the main areas, I think, are someone beginning out on the sight loss journey, so someone who’s just newly diagnosed, they might want some information on their eye condition, how it’s going to affect them because it’s a very scary experience and also, then, someone at the next stage where they’re registered and their sight is not going to improve.

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Actuality

Caller

I received the certificate of visual impairment but I’m not really sure what to do next because the ophthalmologist was very busy, obviously, and he didn’t really have time to sort of explain anything to me, so I’m a bit loss as to what happens next.

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Bothwell

Yeah, that’s quite normal, we hear that a lot.Ìý So, what normally happens is you’ll be sent a copy, your GP will get a copy and there also has been a copy sent to the Sensory Support Team at your local authority.Ìý They will contact you to do a sensory assessment.Ìý So, they’ll come out to your home and…

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Hemmings

A quick note to say here that this one and the other calls you’ll hear are genuine but they’ve been voiced up for confidentiality purposes.Ìý Back to Sharon.

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Bothwell

It’s up to us to sort of piece their life together maybe and try and put support in place to achieve and maintain their independence as much as we possibly can.

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Actuality

Caller

Is there any emotional support available?

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Bothwell

Yeah definitely.Ìý We have group sessions, so we have talk and support sessions…

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Caller

Yeah, no, I’d rather one-to-one really.

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Bothwell

Okay.Ìý It might be best for you to have a one-off mental health check-in first of all…

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Caller

Yeah, because losing my licence has obviously made me very…yeah.

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Bothwell

Yeah, it’s your independence, isn’t it?

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Caller

Exactly, yeah.

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Bothwell

And you’re always learning, so you never know everything.Ìý Benefits is massive and it changes all the time.Ìý We do benefit checks, so we identify if there’s a benefit someone’s not claiming, that they’re entitled to and then we help them to claim that.Ìý We also, make referrals for appeals and mandatory reconsiderations.Ìý But there’s people that don’t know about concessions and tax allowances that people who are blind are eligible for – like the blind person’s tax allowance, TV licence reduction, blue badges – little things that slip the net sometimes.

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Volrath

My name’s Caroline Volrath and I’m the senior manager on the advice line.Ìý We’re looking to build partnerships with other organisations and we’ve been doing some work, for example, with StepChange to build a referral pathway.Ìý As part of our cost-of-living response, we’ve been doing a lot of work, as Sharon explained, around benefits, we’ve been looking holistically at the customer’s financial situation, to maximise their income and to save money on their energy bills, wherever possible.Ìý And as part of that, we’ve upskilled three of sight loss advisors in energy and they’ve now got a Level 3 qualification to deliver energy advice.Ìý The next logical step was to work with an organisation, partner organisation, who could give debt advice and if we have somebody who needs that type of debt advice, we can send that person to them.Ìý And likewise, if they have somebody with sight loss, who’s struggling with their finances, they can refer them into RNIB.

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Bothwell

So, when we take the initial call we make a judgement on that call, whether it needs to be referred for case work.Ìý Every week, as sight loss advisors, we’re allocated so many cases and we work with that person for whatever length of time – should it be two months, six months, a year – until they’re happy that they feel independent enough to get on with their own life.Ìý That’s the nice thing about case work, I think, because you get to know people and they trust you.

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Hemmings

There’s a lovely black Labrador waiting obediently at our feet here.Ìý Can you just tell me a bit about your sight condition?

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Bothwell

Sure, so I’ve got Stargardt’s.Ìý It’s a condition that affects the retina at the back of the eye.Ìý I’m registered severely sight impaired.Ìý That, I guess, helps me in my role as well because I’ve lived through the sight loss journey myself in lots of different degrees, from my twenties to me getting a guide dog a year ago, so, you know, I think if you live it, you know it, don’t you?

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Actuality

Duncan

Good afternoon.Ìý RNIB, you’re through to Duncan, how can I help today?

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Caller

Hi, there, I’m new to the Talking Book service and I’d like to add an author please.Ìý The author is Gervase Phinn.

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Duncan

Lovely.Ìý Whilst I’m doing that, have you also tried any of Jack Sheffield’s books, he was a teacher in Yorkshire too?

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Caller

I’ve actually not heard of him but, yeah, add him on as well.

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Black

My name’s Barbara Black and I work in the helpline.Ìý Our common queries would be about Talking Books, that can range from may I add authors, may I add new books, could I set myself up for Talking Books.Ìý It might be someone from a different team, a sensory team, calling to set a client that they have up for Talking Books.

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Hemmings

Do you get many queries about technology?

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Black

We sometimes do get technology queries; it might be information about a new product that’s coming out or it could possibly be a product that they have or maybe they’ve just got a general query about the correct way to use a product.Ìý If it was more technical information that they wanted, the best people would be our Tech for life team or it might be the library for specific books.Ìý If it’s something we can’t resolve in one call, we will call back and find the answer out for them or go to a different team to get the answer.Ìý It’s really nice when you’ve got a member say to you – I really am so glad for Talking Books and that RNIB provide Talking Books, they are my lifeline.Ìý And I think that’s what makes each call really good as well, when you get lovely feedback like that, that you are helping someone in their day-to-day life.

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Copestake

I’d like to tell you a little bit about a new initiative that we’ve just started in the helpline.Ìý So, we’ve started taking referrals from optometrists, GPs and eye care liaison officers in the hospital.Ìý The period between seeing the optometrist and the hospital can be quite a long time and what we’re trying to do is fill that gap there, so that they feel a little bit more supported.Ìý

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So, what we do then is we call them six weeks later to say – is there anything we can to support you now, can we help you in any other way – and we go from there.

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Volrath

Everybody’s sight loss is different.Ìý We’ve got between 20-25% of our staff have got lived experience of sight loss.Ìý So, their experience of sight loss maybe entirely different from our callers, so therefore, having that open-minded personality, where they can not make assumptions about what somebody is going through is really vital.

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Hemmings

And Zoe, I’d like to pick up that point with you as well actually.Ìý Do you have many people on your team that are visually impaired or have some kind of direct experience?

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Copestake

So, we do have staff in the team that have sight loss.Ìý However, as Sharon, she used to work for me and she has actually moved on and we have quite a lot of people that start in the helpline, who have got sight loss, and then move on to other places in the RNIB.Ìý But, currently, we have four staff that have got sight loss.

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Hemmings

So, that’s four out of?

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Copestake

Forty.

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Hemmings

That’s quite a small percentage.

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Copestake

It is but again, they’ve moved on.Ìý I class the – I suppose the helpline as the gateway to the RNIB for the staff that come in and also for any customers that ring in and then they can move on throughout the organisation.Ìý Our training programme in the helpline is actually six months to learn the job.Ìý On top of the transactional part of it, all the staff go on a training course to understand what it’s like to live with sight loss and every single person who works in the RNIB goes on that course.Ìý Every single month we listen to four calls, we’re coaching them, talking to them about – what are the things they could have offered, what they are offering.Ìý It is very comprehensive.

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Hemmings

As we all know the fallout from covid has impacted quite a lot of organisations, especially in terms of job cuts, I mean, have you guys got the staffing level that you need now, after covid, to meet the demand that you’re getting?

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Copestake

When covid hit, our phones, we was taking 1200 calls a day, every day for six months.Ìý So, what we did in the helpline, we actually extended our open hours.

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Volrath

The same thing happened for us, we extended the open hours.Ìý As you rightly recognised, our demand went through the roof.Ìý Of course, we’d rather have more resources, we’d love to be able to offer more staff and a wider range of assistance to our customers but we’re a charity and we do what we can within the resources that we have.

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Hemmings

Caroline Volrath ending there.

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Well, if you’d like to get in touch with the RNIB’s helpline, you can call them on 0303 1239999 or email helpline@rnib.org.uk.

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That’s about all we’ve got time for tonight.Ìý Next week, we’ll be talking about tennis, which has widely been considered the hardest sport to adapt, especially if you have little or no vision.Ìý Well, now it’s been done and it’s becoming increasingly popular.Ìý So, let us know, do you dabble or are you quite the professional hand and, of course, your thoughts and feelings about anything you’ve heard on tonight’s programme are always welcome.Ìý You can email intouch@bbc.co.uk, you can leave your voice messages on 0161 8361338 or go to our website, if you’re able to, that’s bbc.co.uk/intouch.

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From me, Beth Hemmings and studio managers Colin Sutton and Simon Highfield, goodbye.

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