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St Cross hospital.
A SPECIALIST eye unit at St Cross will be open to patients in Rugby from Monday, it has been announced.
The age-related macular degeneration (AMD) unit opened to great fanfare in 2011.
However due to a contractual disagreement between the now defunct Primary Care Trust and the hospital trust the people of Rugby were not given appointments there and were instead made to use a similar unit in Warwick.
That will change from next week with patients requiring specialist eye treatment able to choose from a wider variety of locations including St Cross - but only initially for newly diagnosed patients.
It comes after mounting pressure on the new NHS Coventry and Rugby Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) to end the debacle.
Chairman Dr Adrian Canale-Parola said: “We are delighted about this announcement for the patients in Rugby who will be able to access the service locally.
"We have listened to patients, members of the public and service users.
"Their views have been heard, and the CCG has acted to make sure that patients in the area now have a choice of where they receive treatment.
“Starting from next week, patients newly diagnosed with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) will be given a choice of location for their treatment.
"Over the next few months we will be working with local hospitals to extend that choice to patients already receiving treatment in Warwick.”
Age-related macular degeneration (Wet AMD) can cause blindness if left untreated.
This treatment usually requires regular injections which means patients have to travel back and forth to hospital to receive a full course of treatment.
Helen Jackman, chief executive of the Macular Society, welcomed the long-awaited changes.
"This is excellent news for people affected by macular degeneration in Rugby.
"We’re delighted that the Clinical Commissioning Group and the hospitals involved have come up with a solution that will help hundreds of people with central vision loss.”
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