The Belfast Health & Social Care Trust and their Sensory Support Team provide social work, technical aid and rehabilitation for people aged 18 and over who have sight loss, hearing loss and dual sensory loss across the Greater Belfast area.  They also provide mobility training for children aged under 18.  The Sensory Team in Belfast were one of the five HSC Trusts who purchased Empatheyes VR headsets and software (including Control Box) to be able to demonstrate eye conditions to families, carers and professionals supporting people with a visual impairment.

The Train-the-Trainer sessions were delivered to the team of 12 by resident eye clinicians and software technician. The sessions comprised 45 minute instruction on the capabilities of the software, including all of the eye conditions that can be simulated and the different functions involved. Our Empatheyes eye clinician also covered any other conditions that were specifically asked about as well as any questions pertinent to the clinical nuances. After this the group were taken in two cohorts to have an instruction session on the hardware and software, troubleshooting and charging requirements. All staff had an opportunity to switch on VR headsets, connect to server and remote control the headset from our Empatheyes smartphone app.

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“This is a great training tool… all staff starting in the Health & Social Care Trust should have an opportunity to try this VR Visual Impairment Simulator”.                                              
Sensory Support Professional