Gran wins appeal to have eye treatment paid for by NHS

7:08pm Tuesday 29th April 2008

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When Mary White was refused NHS treatment for a condition which could have blinded her in three months she started spending thousands to save her sight.

Today the 69-year-old won an appeal to get her treatment paid for on the NHS, having originally been told by Kingston Primary Care Trust (PCT) that she was not an "exceptional case".

“It’s a postcode lottery and Kingston is the worst area to get anything. Just think how many people they have sent home to go blind just because they can’t get the £2,000 to pay for the injections."

Mary White

She had already been forced to pay £8,000 for four Lucentis injections to treat her severe case of wet Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD).

But after she got backing from the Royal National Institute of the Blind (RNIB), Kingston PCT promised to fund all future treatment at an appeals hearing earlier today.

Mrs White, a retired cleaner, had relied on her two daughters to help pay for the £2,000 injections but feared they could no longer keep it up.

As her eye sight fades to the point where she can no longer read and barely leave the house, she said the PCT's decision was a "huge relief".

But Mrs White has hit out at the PCT for taking so long to make the right decision.

She said: "It's a postcode lottery and Kingston is the worst area to get anything. Just think how many people they have sent home to go blind just because they can't get the £2,000 to pay for the injections.

"How can they decide in 2008 who sees and who goes blind? Everyone should be able to see. The treatment is there to be used."

Mrs White, who lives in Vine Close, Surbiton, was diagnosed with the condition in July last year and immediately paid for monthly injections in August, September and October.

Her sight improved by almost 40 per cent but slowly declined again by February, when she paid for a fourth injection.

She is now waiting to hear from Kingston Hospital to organise her first free treatment on the NHS.

Currently, around a third of PCTs pay for the Lucentis injections, without patients having to prove exceptional circumstances.

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) recommended in a draft report earlier this month that all PCTs pay for it, something it is expected to set down as a firm guideline later this year.

A spokeswoman from Kingston PCT said that until then, each case is decided individually against current NICE criteria.