Widow refused sight-saving drug...by trust that spent £1/2m learning how to cut costs

Thelma Nixon, 69, has had to take out an equity release scheme on her home to fund treatment to her eyes.

But now her money is running out and she is likely to go blind.

Mrs Nixon, who worked as a primary school teacher for 30 years, said: "I am absolutely petrified of going blind. I cannot believe what has happened to the NHS. It's becoming like a Third World nation.

"I was a primary school teacher for my whole working life and I lost count of the amount of children I taught to read.

"Now because of this decision I won't be able to read myself. What right have these faceless people got to condemn me?"

North Yorkshire and York Primary Care Trust brought in finance experts Ernst and Young last October as part of the trust's financial turnaround operation.

The accountants were originally expected to be at the trust for eight weeks, but it has now emerged they stayed on until the end of March this year - a period of more than five months. The cost to the trust was £500,000.

Mrs Nixon has twice fought off cancer, undergone two dangerous spinal operations and is plagued by tinnitus caused by an anaesthesia blunder.

Now she has age-related macular degeneration. It is the leading cause of sight loss in the UK and can lead to blindness in as little as three months. She said: "I'm 70 years old next month and I never thought I would be put in this position. My husband, Ron, died 12 years ago, so he's not around to help me. Between us we contributed 60 years to the NHS.

"I've never asked for anything, I've never begged for help but now I will do anything to avoid going blind.

"I am unable to sleep properly and sometimes I wake in the middle of the night and I'm terrified I have lost my sight until I switch on the light and I can see again. This condition means you can lose your sight overnight."

Since being refused NHS treatment, she has paid for seven injections of the drug Lucentis since last summer, four in her right eye and three in her left. Each cost her £1,500, making a total bill of £10,500, which she had raised through equity release on her bungalow in York.

"I have now run out of money," she said, adding that she needs another injection this month. She said: "I'll have to put it on the plastic and go into debt. But I'll need more later on. There isn't a future for me without financial or free NHS help."

Lucentis stabilises vision loss and may reverse the damage to the eyes. Although it is licensed for use in the UK, it has not yet been approved for NHS use by the Government's National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence.

As a result, individual trusts can make their own decisions on its provision. North Yorkshire and York Primary Care Trust said it could not comment on individual cases.

It said there was no NICE guidance for the treatment of age-related macular degeneration with Lucentis, but it had agreed to fund such drugs for patients where there was evidence it would be an effective treatment.