NHS faces court battle over funding for blindness drug

A FORMER Labour MP is threatening to take the NHS to court over its refusal to provide a drug that could help restore her sight.

Alice Mahon, 69, lost most of the sight in one eye because of wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD), and expects to lose it in the other.

Her local primary care trust has refused to fund the drug Lucentis (ranibizumab), which could stabilise her condition or lead to improvement.

More than 18,000 people in the UK go blind every year due to wet AMD, but several trusts refuse to fund the drugs to treat it, according to the Royal National Institute for the Blind.

Mrs Mahon, a former MP for Halifax, was diagnosed two months ago. She said: "I have been a supporter of the NHS all my life, and now feel let down.

"Everyone has a right to free treatment on the NHS for a condition that results in blindness and devastates lives."

Her solicitor, Yogi Amin, wrote to Calderdale primary care trust, threatening to take the case to the High Court.

A spokeswoman for Calderdale said the trust did not comment on individual cases.