Patients benefit from blitz on eye operations

Around two hundred patients are to benefit from the skills of a visiting surgical team, performing eye surgery operations.

The specialist team will perform cataract and other eye operations at South Tyrone Hospital in Dungannon on patients who have had to wait longer than six months for surgery.

Health Minister Shaun Woodward said the scheme reflected his determination to put patients first, by driving down waiting lists and modernising the Health Service.

"This is good news for patients in the Southern Board area," the Minister said. "It follows on from the huge number of eye operations in Sperrin Lakeland recently for patients there.

"Anyone that has had to wait longer than six months for eye surgery in this region will now get treatment. It is only fair that if a hospital cannot deliver this service quickly enough then it is brought in from elsewhere, to ensure that patients get the necessary treatment."

Around two hundred patients benefited from eye operations in mid October arranged by the Western Health and Social Services Board. Another 200 patients will benefit from operations being carried out by Aspen Medical.

(MB/SP)