A Bristol pensioner could have her sight saved after a decision to make the drug she needs available on the NHS.

Joyce Thrower, 79, suffers with wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD) in one eye but until now has been told she must pay for the eye injection drug Lucentis - or go without.

She was shocked when her consultant asked how her finances were, and horrified to learn she would have to fork out up to £16,000 for the full treatment.

Until this week, although Bristol PCT funded Lucentis, it would only do so if it had spread to both eyes.

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) was also poised to recommend the drug only to people with AMD in both eyes but in a dramatic U-turn it has recommended that the drug is made available on the NHS without this specification.

It is good news for Mrs Thrower, but she says her sight has already deteriorated because she hasn't been able to afford the treatment.

Mrs Thrower, who hopes to start receiving the injections in the next few weeks, said: "I'm pleased to hear the news but I'm annoyed it's taken this long. We've all paid our national insurance and are entitled to it.

"I'm virtually blind in my left eye and have dry AMD in my right eye but the consultant said without any wet AMD symptoms I could not get the treatment on the NHS.

"I take vitamin tablets and wear sunglasses when I go out but there isn't really anything else I can do. It's frustrating. I know it's got worse – if I close my right eye I can't see anything.

"Since I was a child I have always done sewing, card making and crafts. I can't do that as well any more. I feel like I've been robbed of something which could've been saved."

Nice is now suggesting the NHS funds 14 injections at the cost of more than £10,000 per patient, with the cost of any more being met by the manufacturer Novartis. Each injection costs just over £670.

The decision has been welcomed by the Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB), which says AMD is the leading cause of sight loss in the UK and can lead to blindness in as little as three months if left untreated.

Steve Winyard, of the RNIB, said it wanted the NHS to implement the guidance immediately.

He said: "We've been waiting for this for over two years. "It is a victory for thousands, bringing overwhelming relief to desperate people across the country. Finally the torment faced by elderly people forced to either spend their life savings on private treatment or go blind, is over."