York eye consultant Dr Mike Hayward today called for a 'proper debate' over who should take priority on hospital waiting lists.

Consultant opthalmologist Dr Hayward said doctors should not be expected to 'play God'.

He said he and colleagues in the eye department at York District Hospital were sometimes called upon to make almost impossible decisions about who to treat first.

He told the Evening Press: "Who has priority? Somebody whose visual acuity is not greatly affected, but is at risk of losing his job? Or an 80-year-old whose vision is worse?

She doesn't drive, but she cannot see the news and it makes things more difficult for her at home and is affecting the quality of her life?

"I don't want to have to be in the position of making those decisions, because I don't like playing God. There has just got to be a proper debate about this, and at the moment there is no debate.

"It is up to us: the primary care groups, community health councils - everybody should be involved."

Dr Hayward said prioritising was essential when waiting lists were so long.

Staff in the eye department not only had to make heartbreaking decisions about which cataract patients should be given priority, he said: they also had to decide whether cataracts should be given priority over other eye conditions, such as watery eyes, glaucoma or problems caused by diabetes.

He said that when staff in the department set out to 'blitz' the cataracts list last autumn, waiting times for other operations inevitably grew longer. Staff were now having to turn their attention to some of those conditions - and cataract waiting times were beginning to creep up again.

Dr Hayward said: "We cannot say we will just operate on cataracts and leave some of the other operations. They are effective, too."

Chris Reid, chief executive of the York Primary Care Group, which manages GP surgeries and has a big say in how health money should be spent, said eye care had already been identified as one of the group's 'priority areas' in it's first year.

He said: "We will do work with the trust on this subject. The issue of prioritisation will be part of this work."

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