![\"NHS](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/0_ecsImgJS90574501-1013113983094328668.jpg\")
NHS bosses have responded to concerns about the loss of a vital eye service in Coventry and Warwickshire. <\/p>\nA patient told hospital bosses she could now be forced to spend \u00a3150 on a taxi for help with her conditionNHS bosses have responded to concerns about the loss of a vital eye service in Coventry and Warwickshire. <\/p>\n
NHS bosses have responded to concerns about the loss of a vital eye service in Coventry and Warwickshire. A patient spoke of the ‘devastation’ she now faces <\/a>as the axe has fallen on the free use of Specsavers to provide urgent and community eye care appointments for locals.<\/p>\n “This is devastating for people like myself with complex eye conditions,” the patient, named Julie, told a George Eliot Hospital and South Warwickshire Foundation Trust board meeting. “Getting an appointment at an emergency eye clinic at Coventry is almost impossible due to their triage system which is dysfunctional.<\/p>\n “The other option is to spend about \u00a3150 on a taxi fare to go to the Birmingham and Midland Eye Centre in Birmingham and wait up to seven hours to be seen in urgent eye care. Whoever dreamed of this crazy idea of cutting the service, where you could get an appointment on the same day at Specsavers which is much easier to get to and have my eye checked out if there is a problem.”<\/p>\n READ MORE: The Coventry streets car thieves and burglars are targeting this week<\/a><\/p>\n READ MORE: Coventry hospital A&E warning as maximum wait times hit 16 hours<\/a><\/p>\n She called out the decision makers, the NHS Coventry and Warwickshire<\/a> Integrated Care Board (ICB), and called for the service to be re-instated. CoventryLive understands that the contract for the Minor Eye Conditions Services (MECS) ended at the end of October.<\/p>\n We contacted the ICB about the decision and the concerns raised by the patient. In a statement, a spokesperson for NHS Coventry and Warwickshire<\/a> ICB said: “Following a thorough review, NHS<\/a> Coventry<\/a> and Warwickshire ICB decided not to extend the contract for the South Warwickshire Minor Eye Conditions Service and the Coventry Community Urgent Eye Service.<\/p>\n “The majority of patients will continue to be able to receive treatment for eye care in the community through local pharmacists or GPs, with more serious cases still referred directly to hospital eye casualty services.”<\/p>\n