A GRANDAD who was blinded in one eye after a hospital blunder has been awarded £220,000 in damages.

The 79-year-old man, who feels he has been robbed of the pleasure of life, was paid by the Bolton Hospitals NHS Trust in an agreed out of court settlement.

It came after his solicitor successfully argued that the hospital was to blame for his blindness.

The man, who does not want to be identified, underwent cataract surgery at Royal Bolton Hospital in January 1995. By November he had gone blind -- two months before the eye hospital had agreed to see him.

The pensioner said: "When I went to see the consultant and they told me that there was nothing they could do, I had gone blind, I was shattered.

"I broke down and felt that my whole body was shaking. I couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

"Now that I have the money, there is no pleasure. The money doesn't mean anything. It won't replace what I have lost."

The Bolton man was assessed in out-patients on several occasions and discharged from hospital care in July 1995.

He went to see his GP a month later complaining of pain in his eye and a problem with his vision.

The GP wrote to hospital doctors urging them to see him urgently because he was showing signs of retinal detachment -- an ophthalmic emergency.

But having heard nothing from the hospital, the GP wrote again in November.

Mark Slater, a clinical negligence specialist of Manchester law firm Linder Myers, said: "It was not until January of the following year that he was seen by a consultant but by then it was too late. He had lost the sight in his eye.

"At that stage, his life just came to a stop. He could not come to terms with his blindness and so developed an adjustment disorder. He suffered from a low mood, he was no longer safe to climb the stairs at home or drive his car.

Catastrophic

"He could not watch TV or socialise with friends and needed 24 hour care from his wife and their relatives. The blindness was so catastrophic for him that it left him completely disorientated.

"The tragedy is, if someone in the hospital had read the GP's letters and responded immediately, part of his sight would have been saved, he would have adapted to his situation and there would not have been a need for compensation."

Investigations showed that the GP's letters should have highlighted the need for urgent review by the consultant which should have resulted in urgent surgery to re-attach his retina.

Bolton Hospitals NHS Trust initially contested the claim but subsequently accepted they were at fault and agreed to an out of court settlement.

The compensation will go towards one-storey accommodation, professional nursing care and transport for him and his wife.

The Royal Bolton Hospital declined to comment.