Cash injection to boost cornea transplants in UK

Main Category: Transplants / Organ Donations
Article Date: 05 Aug 2004 - 12:00 PDT

email to a friend   printer friendly   opinions  

Five hospitals are to receive funding from UK Transplant to boost the number of sight-saving cornea transplant operations.

Hospital trusts in Bristol, Bolton, East Grinstead, Newcastle and Norwich have been designated as Eye Retrieval Centres under the scheme and will each receive £70,000 a year from now on.

The funding will pay for a cornea retrieval nurse in each centre who will be responsible for approaching relatives and collecting donated corneas from their local areas. Each centre will aim to provide 450 corneas for transplant across the country.

NHS UK Transplant Chief Executive Sue Sutherland described the initiative as a major boost for cornea transplantation which would not only enable many more people to have their sight restored or improved but also help people fulfil their wish to donate.

She said: "A transplanted cornea can make almost as dramatic an improvement to the life of the recipient as some of the major organs.

"The NHS has the capacity to perform more of these vital operations but the lack of donated corneas limits the number of patients we can help. By securing a more predictable supply of corneas, surgeons can be confident that they can perform more of these operations to save the sight of more people."

Last year (April 2003-March 2004) a total of 2,365 cornea transplants - the highest number for six years - were performed in the UK with tissue donated by 1,873 donors.

The five hospitals will form the first phase of a programme to increase the number of Eye Retrieval Centres in the UK to eight.

Peter McDonnell, Chairman of UK Transplant's Ocular Tissue Advisory Group, said: "We believe that the increase in funding that will be channelled into the eight special eye retrieval centres will bring about a significant increase in both the number and quality of corneas retrieved nationally.

"This scheme will complement the already excellent eye retrieval work performed in local Trusts and the community. More patients will be able to have sight restoring cornea transplant surgery."

The cornea is the clear tissue at the front of the eye that lets in light and helps focus it on the retina so that we can see. Disease or injury can make the cornea cloudy or distorted in shape, causing loss of vision.

A cornea transplant replaces the damaged cornea with a disc of healthy tissue from a donor. The procedure is straightforward, usually takes about an hour to complete and is extremely successful, with 90% of grafts functioning after one year.

People can register their wish to donate corneas for transplant - and their organs - on the NHS Organ Donor Register by calling the Organ Donor Line on 0845 60 60 400 or visiting www.uktransplant.org.uk

For more information call UK Transplant Communications on (0117) 975 7470 or Mr Peter McDonnell on 0121 507 6801

The five centres are:

Norfolk: Norfolk and Norwich Healthcare NHS Trust
East Grinstead: Queen Victoria Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Bolton: Bolton Hospitals NHS Trust
Newcastle: Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Trust
Bristol: United Bristol Healthcare NHS Trust

• Additional
• References
• Citations