New eye pavilion thanks to Lib Dem budget win - Alex Cole-Hamilton

An artist's impression of the new Princess Alexandra Eye PavilionAn artist's impression of the new Princess Alexandra Eye Pavilion
An artist's impression of the new Princess Alexandra Eye Pavilion
There is a tiny island of cells which drifts across my field of vision several times a day. This minuscule clump of matter appears as a floating black dot and has been visible to me since it detached from my retina more than a decade ago. I smashed my head in a collision on a squash court, it knocked me senseless and did something to the back of my eye.

Opticians have told me that it's entirely harmless but pretty much untreatable. Other than that, my vision is pretty epic - fighter pilot quality, I’m told, so I count myself incredibly lucky.

It is estimated that 180,000 Scots are blind or partially sighted. As our population ages and lives longer, that number is only going to increase. Modern medical science make many sight conditions treatable or at least manageable, but sometimes eye conditions can deteriorate quickly so being seen quickly really matters.

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That understanding is why I’ve been proud to work alongside sight loss groups and other campaigners to see the old and outdated Princess Alexandra Eye Pavilion at Lauriston replaced with a new, state of the art facility. It is an issue I’ve been raising in Parliament for most of the time I’ve been elected.

It finally felt like we were getting somewhere until last year when, in a moment of economic panic, the SNP government put a hard stop to all NHS capital projects, the new Eye Pavilion included.

To make matters worse, old waste pipes and the discovery of asbestos in the fabric of the old building last year closed the Eye Pavilion entirely, meaning patients have to travel to other sites for eye care and treatment including St John’s in Livingston and to East Lothian. That would be a major inconvenience to anyone but if your sight loss is profound, navigating your way around an entirely different set of buses and unfamiliar streets is exceptionally difficult and unsettling.

It seemed for a time that the SNP were content to see Edinburgh become one of the only European capitals without a dedicated eye hospital. The Scottish Liberal Democrats weren’t going to stand for that so when it came to negotiations around the Scottish Budget, restarting work towards a new Eye Pavilion was high up the list and I'm delighted to say that we were successful.

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Thanks to the Liberal Democrats, the Eye Pavilion is now a priority project both for the Scottish Government and for NHS Scotland. It has been taken out of the deep freeze and £5 million committed in this coming financial year to finalise the business case for a new elective centre for NHS Lothian. I want to see it shovel ready before this Parliament rises for the election in 2026.

I have faced criticism from some political rivals for even being willing to negotiate with an SNP Government that has been in power for a long time and failed many Scots. But the ordinary people I speak with every week in my surgeries and on the doorsteps want to see their politicians working hard on the things that matter to them and I'm pleased to say that the Eye Pavilion is just one example of the projects my party has been able to deliver. Sometimes you have to sit down and talk if you want to get things done.

Eye care often plays second fiddle to other health concerns both in terms of news coverage and government attention, but for every Scot suffering sight loss, it means everything. We must ensure they have world beating facilities in the heart of our nation’s capital.

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