Why cataract lottery is so short-sighted

JUST seven months ago – following the Mail’s Save Our Sight campaign – the health watchdog Nice finally instructed hospital trusts to end the cruel postcode lottery for cataract surgery.

We exposed the disgraceful fact that this simple but life-changing eye operation was being severely rationed across most of the country on spurious cost grounds. This meant many thousands of mainly older people being left untreated until they were almost blind.

after the intervention of Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt, trusts were ordered to offer the procedure to all patients whose doctors believed they would benefit.

But today, in a scandalous betrayal, we reveal that two-thirds of english health trusts are simply ignoring the new guidelines and refusing cataract operations to all but the very worst-affected sufferers.

Indeed several insisted surgery was ‘of limited clinical value’. They should try telling that to people who are gradually losing their ability to read, drive and even safely negotiate their own stairs.

Little wonder that age UK and the RNIB (formerly Royal National Institute of Blind People) are so infuriated by our revelations.

If the NHS can’t be relied on to perform such a vital service for people in obvious need, it truly has lost its moral compass.

With the 70th anniversary approaching, the major parties are falling over each other to claim ownership of the NHS and competing to offer the biggest new cash infusion.

But as we shovel ever more taxpayers’ money into this voracious behemoth, shouldn’t we demand better productivity, less waste and fairer treatment for patients – wherever in the country they live?

If the NHS is to last another 70 years, it needs radical reform and a serious rebalancing of priorities. It should start by ending the cataract scandal.

Denying people this operation is a false economy. as they lose their sight, they are far more prone to falls, incapacity and mental illness. They therefore end up using far more NHS resources than if they’d actually had the procedure.

So this egregious postcode lottery is not only inhumane – it’s profoundly stupid.