AMD patients waiting too long for treatment

Most patients with wet age-related macular degeneration are waiting too long for treatment, according to the latest findings.

Fewer than half of specialist eye clinics in the UK were found to meet national guidelines in a survey conducted by the Macular Disease Society (MDS).

Sufferers were being made to wait too long for both initial and follow up treatments of the condition. The survey suggested that The Royal College of Ophthalmologists' recommended waiting time of two weeks for initial treatment was met in 49.4 per cent of clinics. A further 41.8 per cent of patients waited from two to four weeks for a first appointment and 8.8 per cent for more than eight weeks.