Health
| TOP STORIES |  | | | | | | | FEATURES | | | | | | MAYOR NEWS | | | | BIZARRE LONDON | | | TRAVEL | | | | COMPETITIONS | | |
|
|
|
'Go blind - then we'll treat you', says NHS
 |
| Joan Armstrong and her son Martin, who has been fighting to get her treatment. |
A woman from Southfields must go blind in one eye before she can receive NHS treatment to save her sight, Wandsworth Primary Care Trust (PCT) has told her.
Joan Armstrong, 82, has wet macular degeneration in her eyes but has been denied the drug which may stop her from going blind because it is not "cost effective".
Despite Mrs Armtrong being eligible for the drug Lucentis, which was approved by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice), Wandsworth - unlike other PCTs - refuses to prescribe it to those with two working eyes until it is obliged to do so in September.
The Macular Disease Society (MDS) says allowing someone to go blind in one eye is dangerous because a blind eye is unlikely to recover and the remaining one may not respond to the treatment.
By September Mrs Armstrong, of Wimbledon Park Road, could be completely blind as the condition can worsen in just a few days in extreme cases.
She said: "I've got worse recently and I can only see 10 inches in front of me now. I fell over last week because I couldn't see. The mere thought of being dependent on other people is awful. I lead a fit and active life, gardening and shopping and seeing my friends."
Tom Bremridge, chief executive of MDS, said: "They're trying to save money by delaying paying for the drug, but it would be more expensive to let her go blind because she would need care."
Putney MP Justine Greening, who has been campaigning on Mrs Armstrong's behalf, said: "I don't think it's fair that people who have paid into the NHS all their lives are not able to use it."
Wandsworth PCT said it is waiting for guidance from NICE to provide information on the cost-effectiveness of the drug and, in the meantime, each application for the drug was based on criteria from trial studies.
However a NICE spokesman said: "The Department of Health has made it clear that it is not acceptable for PCTs to use the absence of NICE guidance as an excuse not to prescribe."
Around 240,000 people in the UK have wet macular degeneration, many of them elderly, and private Lucentis treament can cost as much as £26,000.
For information call the Macular Disease Society on 01264 350 551 or visit www.maculardisease.org.
7:57am Wednesday 30th April 2008
Print 
Email this 
Comment
What are these links for?
If you liked this article and would like to share it with others on the web who might be searching for good content we've made it easy for you to do it.
At the bottom of all articles, you'll see links to six sites. These sites - commonly called 'social bookmark' or 'social news' sites - have large communities of web users who share and rate interesting, useful and fun things on the web.
Clicking the links will automatically add the address of the story you are reading to one of these sites, letting you share it with others. Each site will ask you to register to share stories. Registration is free and once a member, you can store, recommend and search for stories that interest you.
More on Digg
More on del.icio.us
More on Furl
More on reddit
More on NowPublic/
More on Yahoo!
