‘I was frightened because I couldn’t see’
JULIA Westoby suffered with cataracts for two years – but despite this, she says, her optician refused to refer her for NHS treatment.
The 74-year-old’s sight got so bad she had to ask her husband to join her on car journeys to help read road signs and warn of hazards.
She also needed to drive to visit and help her 94-yearold mother.
Mrs Westoby, from Newmarket, Suffolk, said: ‘The optician said that I had cataracts in both eyes but they were not bad enough for the NHS to do.
‘It got me down – it got to the stage where I was frightened because I couldn’t see. Eventually, I went private and paid almost £6,000 to have both eyes done.’
Hearing that treatment was being rationed, Mrs Westoby, who worked for the NHS for more than 17 years, said: ‘I think it is disgusting the NHS is penalising old people.’