SANDRA GIDLEY MP CONDEMNS LOCAL NHS RESTRICTIONS TO SIGHT SAVING TREATMENT

12.00.00am GMT Mon 4th Feb 2008

Local MP Sandra Gidley has joined forces with the Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB) to condemn restrictions being placed by Hampshire and Southampton Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) on vital sight saving treatments, putting patients in the Romsey Constituency at risk of going blind. Hampshire and Southampton PCTs are currently restricting treatment to patients with the sight-threatening condition, wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD), despite licensed new drugs being available which could halt the disease.

Wet AMD, is the leading cause of sight loss in the UK and can lead to blindness in as little as three months if it is not treated. Each year 26,000 people across the UK are diagnosed with the condition.

At a reception in the Houses of Parliament, Sandra met campaigners from RNIB and leading NHS professionals who are saving people's sight with new treatments now available.

Sandra said:

"It's shameful that local PCTs are putting patients with wet AMD at risk of going blind by placing unfair restrictions on who can get sight saving treatments. They are forcing patients to meet unacceptably stringent criteria and somehow prove that they are "exceptional cases" more deserving of sight saving treatment than anyone else, in order to stand any chance of having their sight saved. This is leaving patients with a dreadful choice - pay for treatment privately or lose your sight! All patients across Hampshire and Southampton who can benefit from sight saving treatment should have it - immediately and without question.

Sandra's comments come after she revealed last week that thousands of local diabetics are at risk of losing their sight because the Primary Care Trusts are failing to call people forward for retinal screening.

"I will be taking this issue up with local PCTs and urging them to change their policy immediately so that nobody in the local area will have to needlessly lose their sight" added Sandra.

Steve Winyard, Head of Campaigns at RNIB, expressed his outrage at Hampshire and Southampton PCTs' position:

"The incredibly restrictive policy adopted by these PCTs is wholly unacceptable. RNIB and the Macular Disease Society have been fighting to make sight saving treatment available on the NHS for all patients who can benefit from it. We have been supporting individual patients and have succeeded in securing sight-saving treatment for many across England. We will continue to campaign tirelessly to ensure that everyone who needs it gets fair and equal access to sight saving treatments."

Mr Winyard continued:

"We are grateful for Sandra Gidley's support for our campaign to help patients get the treatment they desperately need. I would urge people to support our campaign by contacting Sandra, who can then pass on their views to local NHS decision makers."

ENDS