Funding row over sight loss drug

Elderly patients may be losing their sight because some health trusts are refusing to fund a specific drug, a BBC report has revealed.

Primary care trusts are refusing to let consultants prescribe a drug that can save people's vision.

Trials have shown the licensed drug Lucentis is effective in treating "wet" age-related macular degeneration (AMD) - a condition affecting the ability to see fine detail and colour.

AMD develops quickly and can cause major sight loss in a matter of weeks. But it can respond to treatment in the early stages.

Some trusts are still waiting for clinical guidance from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) before funding it, but it is not due until September. Yet the government had said it is unacceptable for trusts to refuse treatment simply because the guidance does not yet exist.

In Reading, Bournemouth, Poole and Oxford the drug's use is not funded at all, while in Southampton, Portsmouth and Salisbury trusts say funding is only considered on a case-by-case basis.

A report published by the Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB) claims that 90% of all primary care trusts are refusing to pay for the drug. Steve Winyard, from the RNIB, said:

"We're hearing from more and more people who have been told that they can benefit from the treatment but that their hospital is refusing to help them.

"So they are faced with that awful choice of having to raise cash, otherwise they will go blind."

Professor Andrew Lotery, a lead ophthalmologist based at Southampton General Hospital, said he was angry that some patients were being forced to pay for the treatment.

He said: "The National Health Service, as I understand it, should be free at the point of access and there shouldn't be a postcode lottery. So I'm very keen for these drugs to become available on the NHS as soon as possible."