Doctor's new glasses could have contributed to more than 100 patients being left with eye damage

It revealed that the 103 affected patients all suffered harm after being given intravitreal injections by the consultant between October and December 2021.

The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust said internal procedures have been amended to prevent the same thing from happening in the future.

Artist Margaret Kitching was one of almost 40 per cent of the patients given eye injections by a locum consultant who have been left with damage to the lens.

Mrs Kitching, 71, from Wolverhampton, said: “My eyesight is an important tool of my job, and I don’t know whether the long-term impact of this treatment will mean I can no longer produce my art.

“It’s been an awful experience and has caused me – and I’m sure many others – a huge amount of stress.”

An intravitreal injection puts medication directly into the space in the back of the eye called the vitreous cavity, which is filled with a jelly-like fluid called the vitreous humour.

The aim of the procedure is to improve or stabilise vision.

Mrs Kitching received injections in her left eye to treat a rare eye condition.

She was invited to attend a special clinic for review as there had been a technical issue with the injection service.

At this clinic, Mrs Kitching was told was told the doctor had pierced the side of the lens in her left eye with the needle.

She was also informed that the consultant was under review.

Mrs Kitching is now being supported by the clinical negligence team at law firm FBC Manby Bowdler, who believe there are many patients in the West Midlands whose lives will have been adversely affected who don’t yet realise they might be able to make a claim.

Jordan Higgs, a chartered legal executive with the team, said: “We are supporting Mrs Kitching, along with several other NHS patients, to hold the trust to account for the failures in their care. We are now pursuing a clinical negligence case against the Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust.

“The investigation found that the locum consultant in charge of giving NHS patients intravitreal injections had been wearing new varifocal spectacles prescribed by an optometrist.

"However, she described the glare from the lighting in the treatment rooms as too bright and, in an attempt to reduce the effects of the glare, she changed the patients’ head position when injecting.

"This was a change from usual practice and appears to have had dire results.”

Mr Higgs said the hospital trust had apologised for failures in its processes but made no apology for the injuries.

In a letter to the law firm, the trust said: “The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust sincerely apologises to Ms Kitching for the substandard care that she received.

“She should have received a duty of candour letter from the trust and a copy of the root cause analysis report detailing their internal investigation and findings.”

Mr Higgs said 103 out of 341 patients (38.7 per cent) treated by the consultant had suffered damage to the lens of the eye – eight of them had damage to both eyes.

Investigators assessed a random cohort of 100 patients treated by other doctors and none had lens damage.

Mr Higgs said: “This makes it even more shocking that such a poor outcome was achieved for so many patients.”

Dr Brian McKaig, chief medical officer at The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust, said: “The trust became aware of an issue regarding a procedure carried out by a locum consultant in October 2021.

"We immediately suspended the practice of the consultant whilst an internal investigation was carried out.

“Following this investigation, we commissioned an external review and a number of patients were recalled and found to have received sub-standard treatment.

"They have now all had a clinical review and, where necessary, have undergone appropriate treatment.

“Internal procedures have been amended to prevent this from happening again.”