A general practitioner who was quoted by The Guardian newspaper (March 15) as stating that physicians were 'over-treating people' for macular degeneration has told Optician he was attempting to highlight that the prevalence data for the disease could be incorrect.
Dr Charles Alessi, who is based at Kingston upon Thames, explained that 'either there is an issue with patients being over-treated or we are not getting our prevalence right'.
He said the Macular Disease Society had told him the prevalence figures being used in England were probably flawed and they are now conducting a study to obtain the correct figures.
Dr Alessi had been quoted in the newspaper as saying 'too many patients are being given drugs that stop elderly people going blind' and that if 'you are over-treating some patients you are under-treating others'.
According to the newspaper he argued that 'NHS money has run out and to think hospitals cannot change is for "cloud cuckoo land".'
However, Alessi said The Guardian reporter had a different agenda from his when publishing the story and that he wasn't trying to keep people from treatment.
'What I would like to see is a system where if we have some robust prevalence data, which I don't believe we have, we should be able to provide the resource for a condition based on that prevalence data. At the moment all treatments are being considered to be too expensive and out of proportion with prevalence,' he said.
According to Alessi, the NHS needed to look at the way it was collecting prevalence data to ensure that it treated patients when they should be treated.
