The Evening Press at York was today celebrating another campaign victory after a £16m tonic was announced for York District Hospital.

A proposed huge expansion for the hospital will include a eye unit and the news will mean a dramatic cut in waiting times for cataract operations.

It marks the final victory in the Evening Press Fight For Sight campaign which highlighted the plight of mainly elderly patients facing lengthy waits.

Waiting times are now expected to be cut from 17 to six months.

The campaign was inspired by an Evening Press reader whose husband spent £1,850 of their savings to have a private cataract operation on just one eye to avoid waiting over a year for NHS treatment.

Age Concern has welcomed the new eye unit and congratulated the Evening Press for its campaign.

The news comes hot on the heels of victory for the Evening Press’s Build For The Future campaign for Government funding to improve run-down York schools.

That campaign paid dividends earlier this year when the Government gave the green light to a £15m programme to rebuild four cramped or sub-standard primary schools in the city.

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