THE waiting will soon be over for hundreds of cataract patients across the region thanks to funding for a team of overseas doctors.

Morecambe Bay Hospitals NHS Trust has announced a 'blitz' on waiting times for cataract surgery benefiting more than 800 patients from South Lakeland, Lancaster and Morecambe.

Cataracts, which gradually cloud the internal focusing lens of the eye, are easily operable but the backlog of cases means some patients can wait more than a year for surgery.

Sight charities have welcomed the news, claiming it will have an immediate impact on patients' lives.

The project will be funded by the Government's Overseas Clinical Team initiative, which aims to cut waiting lists with the help of overseas medical staff.

The half-hour cataract operation is a delicate procedure carried out with the aid of a diamond knife and fine nylon suture about half the diameter of a human hair.

Operations at Royal Lancaster Infirmary's day-care unit will be performed by a team of 40 South African doctors, surgeons, anaesthetists and technicians - all supplied by Netcare, one of the largest world-wide private healthcare providers.

Dubbed Operation Cataract by NHS bosses, the project will run from October 17 to November 17 but some of the Netcare team will remain in Lancaster to deal with any post operative complications.

Trust chief executive Ian Cumming said the blitz would help narrow the cataract operation waiting time gap between Lancaster and Barrow hospitals and help the trust catch up on work delayed due to the Legionnaires disease outbreak.

South Lakeland Voluntary Society for the Blind chief executive Sonia Mangan said: "We are delighted they are targeting something that is so significant for visually-impaired people.

To have a sight problem is generally quite horrific but to know it is easily rectifiable is adding insult to injury.

While patients are waiting for an operation they can't get on with their lives."

Extra equipment, including specialist microscopes and lamps, have been bought or hired by the trust to prepare for the initiative.

Mr Cumming added: "This initiative has been many months in planning.

I firmly believe that this will be worthwhile as many people living in Lancashire and South Cumbria are currently waiting far too long for their sight to be restored by having their cataracts removed."

l Cataracts are more common in elderly people and some lens clarity loss affects almost everyone over the age of 60.

Although cataracts never cause complete blindness - even people with dense cataracts can still usually distinguish light and dark - they cause loss of clarity and detail perception until vision is completely clouded.