Ex-MP battles NHS over eye drug

A former Halifax MP says she may go to the High Court to force the NHS to provide a drug which she says could help her failing sight. Alice Mahon, 69, lost most of the sight in one eye due to age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and expects to lose it in the other.

Calderdale Primary Care Trust (PCT) has refused to fund a drug which could stabilise or improve her condition.

More than 18,000 people in the UK go blind every year due to the condition. According to the Royal National Institute for the Blind, several PCTs refuse to fund the drugs to treat the condition.

Four treatments are currently available for the disease, which affects the central part of the retina and is the leading cause of sight loss in the UK. Two of the treatments only help a small percentage of patients, but two new drugs, Macugen and Lucentis, are suitable for most patients. Macugen costs about £10,000 a year, and Lucentis costs about £12,000.

Both drugs are currently being appraised by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), which expects to issue guidance to the NHS in October.

Mrs Mahon was diagnosed with AMD two months ago and is being treated at Calderdale Royal Hospital. Her solicitor Yogi Amin, from Irwin Mitchell, wrote to her PCT in Calderdale and also Kirklees PCT, saying their refusal to fund the drugs breached her human rights. The letter said Mrs Mahon had been forced to fund her urgent treatment privately, at a cost of £5,325, to avoid losing her eyesight while her case was being considered.

She said: "I have been an ardent supporter of the NHS all my life, and now feel totally let down. The excuses that the PCTs are giving for not funding treatment are scandalously lame. Everyone has the right to free treatment on the NHS for a condition that results in blindness and devastates lives. Supporting people who are blind or partially sighted, who may need home help and suffer injuries from falls, is far more expensive than the treatment. The chancellor must ensure the NHS budget is large enough to fund such a basic health care need."

A spokeswoman for Calderdale PCT said it did not comment on individual cases.