Patients win apology for eye operation blunder

Cataract operations are one of the most common forms of surgery

An NHS trust has apologised to 19 elderly patients whose sight was damaged following cataract operations.

The Brighton Health Care NHS Trust says an independent inquiry into the incident will be set up by the local health authority.

The 19, all aged over 65, were all NHS patients who were treated at a Bupa hospital in an effort to cut waiting lists.

Because of a mix-up over two solutions used in their operations, the patients' eyesight was damaged.

One eye expert has warned that they could lose their sight altogether.

Cloudy vision

The patients were operated on at the Bupa Gatwick Park Hospital in West Sussex in February.

Most have reported side effects, such as cloudy vision.

Andrew Partington, a spokesman for East Sussex, Brighton and Hove Health Authority, said: "The impact on long-term sight will vary from person to person and some may need follow-up surgery."

Brighton Health Care NHS Trust has suspended all operations at the Bupa hospital.

Two types of solution were used in the operation. One contains preservatives and is administered externally with eye drops and the other is injected.

The eye drop solution - methyl cellulose - was wrongly injected into the patients' eyes, despite being marked "for external use only".

It is thought that a Bupa nurse wrongly loaded a syringe with the solution.

The preservative in the eye drop solution can damage cells at the back of the cornea, causing cloudy vision.

The patients could need corneal grafts as a result, but it will not be known how severe the damage is for around six months.

Inquiry

The health authority apologised for the blunder and said the inquiry would help to clear up what happened.

Bupa is holding its own internal investigation.

Eye expert David Spalton said similar mistakes had been made at other hospitals.

"The patients would not feel any pain, but their sight would become hazy and if they went to a doctor he would notice immediately that there was something wrong," he said.

He added that a similar case in London five years ago had resulted in five people losing their sight.

Mr Spalton, director of clinical ophthalmology at St Thomas' hospital in London, said the mix-up was an easy mistake to make.

"A lot of different solutions are used in cataract surgery and there is a danger that a nurse could draw up the wrong solution.

"These things need to be checked and double checked."

More than 100,000 people have cataract operations in the UK each year.