TREATMENT for patients with age-related eye problems in Worcestershire is being improved thanks to a new £250,000 facility.

A new clean room has been opened at Worcestershire Royal Hospital’s eye department, allowing consultant ophthalmologists and nurses to treat patients suffering with age-related macular degeneration, the most common cause of sight loss in the UK in the same place and on the same day as their initial assessments.

The facility opened on Wednesday, September 2 and will see about 100 patients a week.

Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs the site, invested £200,000 in the new facility while senior members of the organisation’s ophthalmology team raised a further £50,000 towards the project.

The trust’s clinical director for ophthalmology Tarun Sharma said: “We want to provide these urgent treatments without any delays and close to patients’ homes.

“Although we are trying to minimise travel for patients, some may still have to travel across the county to get timely treatment to prevent irreversible visual loss.”

His colleague consultant ophthalmologist Jag Gandhi also welcomed the new facility.

“Our department is constantly striving to provide our patients with the very best treatment and care,” he said.

“Having this new facility on-location allows us to provide faster treatment to more patients, which is vital when dealing with these irreversible conditions.”

Age-related macular degeneration usually affects people aged 60 and older, but can happen earlier in life. Another form of the condition, known as wet age-related macular degeneration, causes rapid and irreversible loss of central vision but can be treated if caught early.