The Chief Executive of York District Hospital today threw his weight behind the drive to reduce waiting times for vital cataract operations that can help restore sight.

Dr Peter Kennedy admitted that 12 months was "far too long to wait" for the simple operation that can make such a huge difference to the quality of elderly people's lives.

He said he was "determined" to bring waiting times down.

But he warned speeding up operation times for "first eye" patients could mean those waiting for operations on a second eye might have to wait longer.

His comments come in the wake of an Evening Press investigation which has revealed that people in the York area are having to wait substantially longer for operations to remove cataracts than those in many other areas of the country.

There are currently about 1,100 people waiting to have cataracts removed at the district hospital. Most people have to wait for an average of 17 weeks for an outpatient appointment, and then another nine to ten months for the operation itself.

By contrast, in nearby Wakefield, a patient has usually had the operation within five months of being referred to a specialist by their GP.

In a letter published today in the Evening Press, Dr Kennedy says: "Twelve months is far too long to wait for the first cataract operation to cure serious disability from blindness.

"(But) the NHS must be scrupulously fair in spending public money. That means equal waiting times for people with equal need.

"Restoration of perfect vision in the first eye reduces the disability of total blindness by 100 per cent.

"Restoration of vision in the second eye simply adds binocular vision. The first eye waiting times matter most and will be our priority."

Dr Kennedy stressed that surgical teams had been working flat out to bring down waiting lists at the hospital.

That drive would continue as the Government continued to plough more cash into bringing down waiting times, he pledged.

But he said real progress in reducing the time elderly people had to wait for cataract operations would come if the hospital's proposals for a £7.9 million revamp won the backing of regional health chiefs.

The three-year programme would mean virtually the entire first-floor of the hospital being stripped and refitted - and would permit a surge in the number of patients, including cataract patients, being operated on as "day cases" who did not need to stay overnight.

Dr Kennedy said: "That would be a real leap forward. There is a lot of surgery which could be done in day treatment units if we had the space.

"That would make a huge difference."

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