A team of eye specialists has won a prestigious award in recognition of its ‘exceptionally good practice’ in its treatment of patients with the most common cause of sight loss in the UK.

The Macular service at Good Hope Hospital has been named Clinical Service of the Year at the 2015 Macular Society Awards – a maiden victory for the team after four consecutive nominations.

The award follows outstanding praise from patients for the treatment of Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD). The team, headed up by consultant ophthalmologist & clinical director Ramesh Sivaraj, were praised by judges for providing an ‘excellent’ service to its patients.

Mr Sivaraj said: “To receive this award is a great honour and we are all absolutely thrilled.

“Improving our patient experience had been a major focus for the service and we took several steps to achieve this such as virtual macular clinics, community follow-ups and making the service more flexible by providing evening and weekend clinics for our patients. We are however aware of the challenges faced by the NHS and will continue to innovate to provide the best quality of care for our patients.

“The Trust has been supportive of this service allowing us to obtain new equipment and participate in ground-breaking research which puts us at the cutting edge of what we do. We are privileged to be able to offer state-of-the-art stereotactic radiotherapy as an option for certain types of wet macular degeneration, work which has also seen us nominated for a Health Service Journal (HSJ) Award.”

Mr Sivaraj and his team will pick up their prize at the Macular Society’s annual conference in London on September 26.

For information, advice or support concerning macular disease, call the Macular Society’s helpline on 0300 3030 11 or email help@macularsociety.org. Details can also be found on the charity’s website at www.macularsociety.org