A DOCTOR has condemned the “blatant, vandalistic unravelling of our treasured NHS” after a Yorkshire health trust transferred ophthalmic patients to a private clinic.

Mid-Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs hospitals in the West Yorkshire towns of Wakefield, Dewsbury and Pontefract, has written to ophthalmic patients telling them that unless they individually objected, they would be transferred to privateer Community Health and Eye Services for treatment of some eye conditions, including glaucoma.

Retired haematologist Dr Mike Galvin, who is an eye patient himself, objected, saying: “I was horrified and disgusted at receiving a letter from Mid-Yorks informing me that the default position – ie, if I did nothing – was for my future eye care to be ‘outsourced’ as described in this communication.