To ask the Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety to provide an update on the treatment of Age Related Macular Degeneration patients at the new Mater Hospital Macular Clinic.

The macular service provided by Belfast HSC Trust has, since May 2007, been providing treatment with Lucentis to patients whose second eye is affected by wet age related macular degeneration. The Trust is in the process of expanding its macular service to provide treatment with Lucentis in line with National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence guidance and the service relocated from the Royal Victoria Hospital to the Mater Hospital in April 2009 to provide the additional physical accommodation required to treat current and future patients.

The Trust has experienced some difficulty creating the staff capacity required to deliver the full level of service to all patients. Patients with second eye involvement continue to have priority; in addition, the Trust has assessed almost 100 ‘first eye’ patients from the waiting list and those patients who require treatment with Lucentis have started their treatment.

The Trust is working with the Health and Social Care Board to increase the capacity of the HSC to provide Lucentis to all who require it in as short a time a possible.