A woman undergoing treatment to save her eyesight is having each eye treated in separate hospitals, 20 miles apart.

Mavis Eldridge, 79, is undergoing scans on her right eye in Coventry, and having treatment in Birmingham for the same condition in her left eye.

Mrs Eldridge said she was getting excellent treatment but it was "silly" to be going to two hospitals.

Coventry's University Hospital said she was sent to Birmingham for "prompt treatment".

Mrs Eldridge is being treated for for age-related macular degeneration.

She said she had monthly check-ups for one eye in Coventry's University Hospital, and injections for the other eye at Birmingham's Selly Oak Hospital.

She said it was well known that if you had a macular problem in one eye, the other would be affected sooner or later.

"To me it is silly that I can't be treated in Coventry for the same complaint, but in the other eye."

She said she had previously received the injections in Coventry before being sent to Birmingham.

A spokesman for University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust said there was a high demand for treatment which had led to "capacity issues".

Building work was under way on a new unit to treat patients with macular degenerative disease in Rugby, he said.

"In the interim, to ensure patients receive treatment as promptly as possible, any new referrals (including the situation where the second eye becomes affected) are being referred to Selly Oak.

"The level of success in treating this condition is time dependent and this solution will prevent patients from deteriorating unnecessarily while waiting for appointments."

From http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/coventry_warwickshire/8530650.stm

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