Withdrawal of NHS Treatment for Dementia Sufferer with Macular Degeneration

[Christopher Wood]

Good afternoon Everyone,

My mum suffers from both Dementia and Macular Degeneration. The Eye Clinic have withdrawn treatment for her Macular Degeneration and they are effectively allowing her to go blind.

There is no benefits as this
(1) accelerates her dementia; and
(2) increases the probability of falls and breaking her bones She suffers from Osteoporosis
(3) leaves her blind

She has not injected for nearly a year

I believe the Eye Clinic has taken a view that she is dementia and she is 92. She is not worth bothering with.

She is being discriminated on grounds of the Dementia and age.

Personally I think is absolute disgrace and appalling behaviour. Please can advise on what I can do, Senior Citizens are getting a raw deal, Daylight needs to be let on this issue.

What are my options?

Many thanks

Kind Regards

Christopher Wood

 

[canary]

Is your mum able to co-operate and follow instructions? To treat wet macular degeneration you have to inject into the eye itself in exactly the right place, so if they are not able to follow instructions it can actually damage the eye.

My OH got a stroke in one eye and normally they would inject the clot busting drug into the clot in the eye on three weekly appointments. Unfortunately, he was not able to look in the direction they wanted him to and was unable to keep his eye still, so the eye clinic discontinued the treatment.

Also, sometimes the wet macular degeneration can become dry macular degeneration and, unfortunately, there is no treatment for that.

The eye clinic will have written a letter to the GP about this and will almost certainly explained why treatment was discontinued. Could you ask the GP to explain the eye clinics reasoning?

 

[Christopher Wood]

Is your mum able to co-operate and follow instructions? To treat wet macular degeneration you have to inject into the eye itself in exactly the right place, so if they are not able to follow instructions it can actually damage the eye.

My OH got a stroke in one eye and normally they would inject the clot busting drug into the clot in the eye on three weekly appointments. Unfortunately, he was not able to look in the direction they wanted him to and was unable to keep his eye still, so the eye clinic discontinued the treatment.

Also, sometimes the wet macular degeneration can become dry macular degeneration and, unfortunately, there is no treatment for that.

The eye clinic will have written a letter to the GP about this and will almost certainly explained why treatment was discontinued. Could you ask the GP to explain the eye clinics reasoning?

Many thanks for that I will follow it with GP.

 

[Sarasa]

Hi @Christopher Wood , my mum had macular degeneration and dementia. I think she was already in the early stages of dementia when it was diagnosed in 2012 as she’d been complaining about her eyesight for several years and the family hadn’t really picked up on it as the same time she was complaining about the milk in the supermarket and it seemed the same sort of minor problem. By the time it started to be treated it was quite far advanced and the injections didn’t really stop the decline. Mum was very pro-active with joining the Macular Society and going to all her appointments. By 2018 they’d stopped treating her but were happy for her go go for six monthly check/ups. Does anyone go into see the doctor with your mum. Mine would appear to understand what was said but half an hour later was asking me to explain again.
Like you she was very aware of being written off because of her age and fought to still be treaded, but in the end it wasn’t really in her interests for treatment to be continued.