RUH Eye Unit award nomination

The Eye Unit at the Royal United Hospital, Bath has been nominated for a national award following high praise from patients.

The department is one of the nominees for this year's Macular Society Awards for Excellence. It has been nominated in the Clinical Service of the Year category in recognition of its exceptionally good practice in caring for people with macular conditions.

Now in its ninth year, The Macular Society Awards for Excellence is run by the charity to celebrate the inspirational work done to provide services and care for people with macular disease all over the UK.

Eye Unit Sister Linda Ellis: "We're really pleased to have been nominated for this award. It's recognition of a real team effort in the unit to support and care for people with central vision loss, and it's wonderful that we've been recommended by the people that matter – the patients themselves."

The overall winners will be announced at the Macular Society's national annual conference, which takes place at the Grange Tower Bridge Hotel in London, on 16 September.

The Clinical Service of the Year is one of five honours handed out by the charity as part of the awards. There are also prizes for Optician / Optometrist of the Year; Rising Star of the Year, Chairman's Award for Volunteering and Chairman's Award for Fundraising.

The Macular Society is the national charity for anyone affected by central vision loss. It has more than 350 support groups across the UK, which help to increase the confidence and independence of people affected by macular disease. Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the most common cause of sight loss in the UK, affecting more than 600,000 people.

More people are affected as our population ages, and it is estimated that by 2050, around 1.3 million people will have AMD.

Cathy Yelf, chief executive of the Macular Society, said: "The commitment and dedication of everyone in the team at Royal United Hospital's eye department is clear to see from the tremendous feedback we've received about their work.

"They really have made an incredible difference to the lives of people with macular conditions living in their local community and it's only right that their efforts have been recognised with this richly-deserved nomination."

ENDS

Notes to Editor:

• The Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust provides acute treatment and care for a catchment population of around 500,000 people in Bath, and the surrounding towns and villages in North East Somerset and Western Wiltshire. The hospital provides healthcare to the population served by four Clinical Commissioning Groups: Bath & North East Somerset CCG, Wiltshire CCG, Somerset CCG and South Gloucestershire CCG.
  
  
• The Trust has 759 beds and a comprehensive range of acute services including medicine and surgery, services for women and children, accident and emergency services, and diagnostic and clinical support services.
  
  
• In 2015 The Royal United Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust was acquired the Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases (RNHRD) NHS Foundation Trust. The RNHRD treats patients from across the country offering services in rheumatology, chronic pain and chronic fatigue syndrome/ME.
  
  
• The RUH is changing - we have an exciting programme of redevelopment underway transforming our site and further improving the services we provide. The Trust is now working towards building a purpose built RNHRD and Therapies Centre and a new Dyson Cancer Centre. For more details visit: http://www.ruh.nhs.uk/about/fit_for_the_future
  
  
• For more information about the Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust visit: www.ruh.nhs.uk

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