Wet AMD service to launch at Cromer Hospital

A new service designed to help tackle the commonest cause of blindness in the developed world will be launched at Cromer Hospital from early 2009 to complement a service currently provided at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital.

The Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust will be providing a service at Cromer to treat wet Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD) which causes loss of central vision. AMD generally affects people aged over 70.

There is also a dry form of AMD for which there is no treatment. Wet AMD, however, causes 90% of blindness from AMD and can be treated using a NICE-approved drug called Lucentis. The treatment usually helps stop the disease's progression and improves vision in 30-40% of patients.

From early 2009 patients with wet AMD will be able to access new weekly treatment clinics at Cromer Hospital. Assessment and treatment clinics are also provided at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital.

At the moment around 400 patients with wet AMD in Norfolk receive an NHS-funded service.

The new service development comes in the run up to plans to build a new Cromer Hospital costing up to £26 million. The business plans for the new hospital include new services for North Norfolk such as DEXA scanning for osteoporosis and mammography scanning for breastscreening.

The plans for the new hospital will be on show on Thursday October 23 from 10am to 8pm in the Community Centre (formerly the WI Hall) on Garden Street, Cromer, and representatives from the hospital trust, the designers and the builders will be on hand to explain the plans and answer questions.

The new hospital will replace the original Mill Road hospital which first opened in 1932. The new hospital will be for out-patients, day case operations, extended diagnostic services, dynamic therapy services and minor injuries care and will be completed in 2011.