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£4,000 treatment row as mother loses sight
A YORKSHIRE mother of two who is slowly going blind has been told by health service chiefs that they cannot afford £4,000 to save her sight.
Call centre worker Catherine Godley has a rare condition called keratoconus which will eventually leave her blind and, after a series of tests over the last two years, she was told there was nothing medics could do to help.
But Mrs Godley, 33, who has two children, Hannah, 10, and Connor, eight, was stunned when consultants revealed that treatment was available in the private sector – if she could afford the 4,000 bill.
Now she and her husband Karl, a 40-year-old bakery line manager, have taken out a loan for private laser treatment.
A top Harley Street eye surgeon has carried out the sight-saving procedure on one eye and Mrs Godley, from Monk Bretton, Barnsley, is to have a second operation on her other eye next week.
She said: "I wasn't asking the NHS for the earth, I was asking them for the chance to see my children grow up.
"I was devastated and in tears when my consultant told me there was nothing he could do to help.
"Then in the next breath I was told that there was treatment available in the private sector but I would have to find the money myself.
"I was totally shocked and disillusioned that the NHS had let me down so badly.
"How can the NHS fund sex changes, gastric bands and cosmetic surgery and then refuse to pay 4,000 for an operation to save a person's sight?"
She added: "Somehow the health service has got its priorities totally wrong. I was told that maybe in the future funding might be considered but I cannot afford to wait.
"They did tell me if I waited until I went blind they might be able to offer a corneal transplant but the risk was that my body would reject the corneas and I would stay blind.
"My sight is getting worse by the month and I was coming to the point where the operation could not be carried out and blindness would be inevitable.
"Hopefully I'll have it done in time. My vision won't improve but it won't get worse."
Mrs Godley was diagnosed following a series of tests after suffering headaches, double vision and dizzy spells.
She was referred from Barnsley Hospital to Rotherham District Hospital and then to Sheffield's Royal Hallamshire Hospital.
She said: "My sight is so bad I am not allowed to drive, I can only read a newspaper with a large magnifier and I can't read text on the TV unless I get close up to the screen."
Mrs Godley's husband Karl said: "Surely saving someone's sight should be a priority – especially when it is only costing 4,000."
Keratoconus is a degenerative disorder of the eye in which structural changes within the cornea cause it to thin and change to a more conical shape than its normal gradual curve.
It can cause substantial distortion of vision, with multiple images, streaking and sensitivity to light.
An NHS Barnsley spokesman said: "On checking, we have
no record of a request for funding the treatment of keratoconus.
"Funding requests outside existing contractual arrangements are, however, considered by NHS Barnsley on a case by case basis, the process within which such decisions are made is referred to as the priorities panel process.
"The priorities panel plays a central decision making role within that process. The panel includes representatives of the commissioning department, public health, secondary care clinicians and primary care clinicians.
"The purpose of the panel is to make recommendations for funding for individual patients, taking into account available clinical evidence and the exceptionality of the case."
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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