Denied drug to save sight

From the Abingdon Herald, first published Thursday 5th Jul 2007.

MORE than three-quarters of people in Oxfordshire think it is wrong for the NHS not to fund treatment to prevent blindness, according to a survey.

The Royal National Institute of Blind People survey came days after it was revealed that Hana Whitton, of Hinton Waldrist, was being denied a £7,000 drug to combat an eye condition.

The 56-year-old translator has already lost sight in her left eye because of myopic choroidal neovascular complex, which has now been diagnosed in her other eye.

She and her husband Paul, of Priors Lane, Hinton Waldrist, have paid for three injections of Lucentis - of which she has already received two.

They fear that after the third dose, they will not be able to afford further private care and Mrs Whitton will go blind without NHS help.

Although Lucentis is not strictly licensed for use for myopic choroidal neovascular complex, the condition is often caused by wet macular degeneration - for which the treatment is approved - and has similar symptoms to it.

But Oxfordshire Primary Care Trust has not prescribed the drug to anyone who needs it.

The RNIB, who condemned Oxfordshire PCT's decision, published its survey in response to guidelines to NHS trusts stating that patients should only receive Lucentis if they passed a series of strict criteria and were already blind in one eye.

The survey showed that almost half of people in Oxfordshire were "shocked" and "disgusted" that treatments were not made available through the health service.

Only 15 per cent said they understood why the PCT would not prescribe it.

Mrs Whitton said: "I absolutely identify with the views of people in this survey. People have been calling me for support because they're in a similar situation to me.

"We need people to keep campaigning. It's the only thing left to do. It's absolutely horrible that people in this situation have to campaign, because they're already emotionally drained.

"You have all the stress of the thought of losing your sight and then you find the PCT won't help you. NHS managers need to think about this again because there are so many people affected - and most are vulnerable and elderly."

Wet macular degeneration is diagnosed in 270 Oxfordshire patients every year.

The condition and associated illnesses are the leading cause of sight loss in 250,000 people in the UK, and can lead to blindness in as little as three months. The National Institute for Clinical Excellence (Nice), which decides which treatments the NHS can use, made its preliminary recommendations to ration Lucentis before it makes a final decision this autumn.

RNIB's head of campaigns, Steve Winyard, said: "This drug has the potential to halve the number of people going blind each year and patients in the UK who can benefit from it must all have it - and quickly.

"It's simply unacceptable that Nice is recommending only a small minority of patients within England and Wales will benefit from these ground-breaking treatments. Nice must reconsider. "

The RNIB is urging people to back their campaign.

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