Norman Baker MP Member of Parliament for Lewes constituency
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Norman Baker,
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Lewes,
East Sussex,
BN7 2LJ.
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Norman takes battle to try to save constituent's sight to the floor of the commons
Lewes MP Norman Baker will on Wednesday evening raise on the floor of the Commons the urgent case of one of his constituents, Newhaven resident Adrian Patrick, who is slowly going blind but is being denied access to a drug that his consultant recommends and which might save his sight.
Mr Patrick suffers from bilateral intermediate uveitis, a condition which causes the jelly between the eyeball and retina to disconnect. He has already effectively lost use of his right eye and it is only a matter of time before his left eye follows.
Mr Patrick was referred to Moorfields Eye Hospital where the consultant he has been seeing, Professor Susan Lightman, believes a drug called Infliximab could be helpful to him, and Mr Patrick wants to be allowed to try it. The hospital management at Moorfield’s, however, has stopped the consultant from using it, and without that agreement, the local PCT in Lewes says it cannot fund the treatment.
The drug is normally used for individuals with Crohn’s disease or rheumatoid arthritis, but tests carried out by, amongst others, the Department of Ophthalmology at the Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham, have demonstrated that the drug is “effective” for people with Mr Patrick’s condition.
Norman Baker says: “I am angry that the management at Moorfields is preventing my constituent from receiving the treatment his consultant recommends and which may save his sight. They have offered no alternative way forward and seem content for him to go slowly blind.
“I have spent over a year trying to find a way forward for Mr Patrick, a year in which different bits of the NHS have been wrangling while offering my constituent no real help at all. It is a disgrace.
“I am therefore, with the agreement of my constituent, raising this matter publicly and asking the Health Minister, Rosie Winterton, to intervene. If my constituent’s consultant has a drug she believes can save his sight, and if my constituent is prepared to try it, then that is what should happen.”