A PLUCKY pensioner set to take on a fundraising skydive as he fights to save his sight has hit out at the postcode lottery that has denied him treatment on the NHS.

The Echo reported last week how 77-year-old Reg Foy, from Wool, who suffers from age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is set to take on the skydive for a procedure at the London Eye Hospital that is not available on the NHS and costs around £9,000.

The day after the Echo ran a piece about Reg’s skydive, it was revealed that Manchester Royal Eye Hospital would become the first NHS hospital in the UK to offer a new telescope implant for end-stage age-related macular degeneration.

Everywhere else in the UK it is only available in private hospitals.

Reg said he made enquiries as to whether he would be able to have the procedure if he were willing to go up to Manchester but he was told there was a five-year waiting list.

He said he was in some ways fortunate that, although faced with losing his sight completely, he was otherwise fit and healthy and able to do something about it to raise funds but not everyone was in his position. He questioned why the procedure was not being made available on the NHS across the country.

Reg said: “I am going to have to throw myself out of a plane- I don’t really want to do.

“And at least I can, there are a lot of suffers in Dorset that can’t jump out of a plane to raise money.

“This is now being made available on the NHS in Manchester, why can’t it be made available everywhere else in the country?”

Felipe Dhawahir-scala, consultant ophthalmologist and vitreo-retinal surgeon at the Manchester Royal Eye Hospital, said: “This is a potentially life-changing option for people with end-stage AMD and we are proud to be the first NHS hospital to offer it.

“We chose to offer the telescope implant as it is backed up by data showing at least five years of sustained improvement in vision.”

Cathy Yelf, chief executive of the Macular Society, said: “It’s good news that this new lens implant will be available to some patients at an NHS hospital. Studies suggest it can improve vision and it should help improve their quality of life and enable them to cope with day to day activities.

“By 2020 almost 700,000 Britons will have late stage AMD.It is now the most common cause of sight loss in the country.

“It is important that we continue to fight for more funding for macular research because our ageing society means many more people are developing the condition.”

To donate to Reg skydive visit crowdfunding.justgiving.com/ellen-foy