Jim Dobbin joins RNIB in fight for sight-saving drugs

Jim Dobbin MP and Steve Winyard, Head of Campaigns at RNIB

Local MP Jim Dobbin has joined with the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) in congratulating Heywood Middleton and Rochdale Primary Care Trust for funding sight-saving treatments for patients in their care.

Patients in Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale are some of the few across the country to currently benefit from new treatments which halt the sight-threatening condition wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD). In many other parts of the country patients with wet AMD are being told by their PCTs that they simply will not fund treatment.  Jim Dobbin is joining RNIB in calling on other PCTs to follow the example set in Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale

Wet AMD, is the leading cause of sight loss in the UK and can lead to blindness in as little as three months if it is not treated. Each year 26,000 people across the UK are diagnosed with the condition.

At a reception in the Houses of Parliament on 30 January 2008 Jim Dobbin met campaigners from RNIB and leading NHS professionals who are saving people's sight with new treatments now available.

Mr Dobbin said: "I'm delighted that people in my constituency are getting the sight-saving treatment they so desperately need.  It's a scandal to learn that in many other parts of England and Wales patients with wet AMD are losing their sight simply because their PCTs won't fund treatment for them. Patients who are rejected for funding are left to face a dreadful choice - pay for treatment privately or lose your sight."

Steve Winyard, Head of Campaigns at RNIB, said: "RNIB very much welcomes Heywood Middleton and Rochdale PCT's decision to fund sight-saving treatment for patients in the area. RNIB and the Macular Disease Society have been fighting to make treatment available on the NHS for all patients who can benefit from it. We have been supporting individual patients and have succeeded in securing sight-saving treatment for many patients across the country. We will continue to campaign tirelessly to ensure that everyone in any part of the country, who needs the treatment, can get it.”

RNIB and the Macular Disease Society have launched an advocacy service called Action for AMD Treatment.  Any patient needing help to get treatment for wet AMD should call RNIB’s Helpline on 0845 766 9999 or the Macular Disease Society Helpline on 0845 241 2041.