THE chance that eye patients waiting more than a year for life-changing surgery could lose their sight is being probed by doctors.

Great Western Hospital is reviewing the cases of those waiting for the cornea replacement operations to establish what impact the waits will have on their sight.

A total of 11 patients have been waiting more than a year for the corneal graft surgery. The situation has got so desperate a surgeon from Salisbury District Hospital has been drafted in to clear the backlog.

It had been hoped to start the operations this month, with all procedures completed by September.

But GWH operations chief Jim O’Connell admitted at a hospital board meeting it could be several more months before the patients are able to get the surgery.

Non-executive director Jemima Milton asked if the delays were causing people further sight loss.

Dr Guy Rooney, medical director at GWH, replied: “We’re undertaking a review of that.”

Jim O’Connell told fellow NHS executives: “We have a plan now to get those corneal graft patients cleared. The plan is working in conjunction with Salisbury and we are working with NHS England with that.

“The thinking was we would be able to get those patients cleared between August and September. I just picked up yesterday we might not be able to get them all cleared in September because of an issue sourcing the tissue and the tissue might not arrive now until November.

“Again, we’re all over the detail on that one. There is a plan to get that cleared.”

The delays have been blamed on a national shortage in corneas, the clear tissue that covers the front of the eye. Corneal disease is a cause of sight loss.

Ms Milton asked: “So, what these people are waiting for is somebody to die so they can get their cornea, are they?” Dr Rooney said it was.

More widely, Ophthalmology, the hospital’s specialist eye department, has been hit with lengthy delays. In June, the department was responsible for a largest number of overdue follow-ups of patients, with 1,532.

A specialist locum doctor has been recruited, which it is hoped will help tackle delays.

Rosemarie Phillips, a prominent campaigner for the Royal National Institute of the Blind in Swindon, said following the GWH directors’ meeting: “I am really concerned that there are these delays.

“I am also really concerned there are not enough ophthalmologists in England and those there are choose hospitals like Southampton and Oxford. We’re short of the top people and I feel we’re drawing the short straw in Swindon because of this. Having been registered blind for seven years it’s the most awful handicap.”

Have the surgery delays affected you? Call the newsdesk: 01793 501806.