“We’re a little lab, but we make a big difference,” says Bristol Eye Bank Manager David Usherwood.
He is proud of his Filton-based team, which, together with its NHS sister site in Liverpool, processes around 5,000 eyes a year and uses the harvested corneas to improve the sight of at least 10 patients per day.
Celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, the service run by NHS Blood and Transplant is responsible for collecting eyes from deceased donors and processing the corneas, ready for transplant.
“The patients waiting to receive these eyes often have very poor vision – their corneas have gone cloudy and they can’t really see – so receiving these corneas can change their lives,” he said.