NHS delays ‘costing the elderly their sight’

THOUSANDS of elderly patients are being left at risk of blindness because the NHS is too slow to prescribe drugs which could save their sight, experts have warned.

New guidelines from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) today say that patients suffering from age-related macular degeneration (AMD) need quicker diagnosis and treatment to avoid vision loss. More than 600,000 people in the UK are affected by the condition, which comes in two forms, one of which can cause irreversible blindness within weeks.

The guidelines from Nice says those suffering from the most damaging form of AMD should start treatment within a fortnight of diagnosis. The authors of the advice said that thousands of patients were being denied this, leaving too many to suffer “terrifying” consequences.