YESTERDAY was a good day for people like Brian Pritchard. The Worcester pensioner is one of thousands across the country who suffer from a devastating eye disease.

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD), in its aggressive wet form, accounts for about 90 per cent of blindness caused by the condition, which destroys the central region of the retina.

Until yesterday people like Mr Pritchard could not get sight-saving drug Lucentis on the NHS – unless they had already lost the sight in one eye as a result of AMD.

Now the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has reversed its apparently callous ruling.

That means pensioners like Mr Pritchard no longer face the choice of spending their savings on private treatment or going blind.

NICE has been at the centre of much controversy in recent months over its decisions not to authorise drugs for NHS use if it feels cost outweighs benefits. In this instance NICE deserves praise for making a common sense decision.

The Lucentis treatment might cost £10,500 per patient but that is money well spent if it saves AMD sufferers from a life of blindness.

People like Mr Pritchard have worked all their lives. It is their money that funds the NHS. Therefore it is quite right that they benefit in their hour of need. Only the most cold-hearted will view this decision as anything other than great news.

We trust the Worcestershire Primary Care Trust will make Lucentis available to wet AMD sufferers with immediate effect.