WAITING lists for diabetes treatment will be cut after a £35,000 fundraising appeal has bought vital equipment to treat eye disease.

A portable laser machine was presented to Bishop Auckland General Hospital yesterday after a two-year fundraising marathon.

The provision of the new equipment means that patients from the hospital will no longer have to travel to Darlington to receive treatment.

Consultant Dr Alan McCulloch, who specialises in diabetes at Bishop Auckland General Hospital, received the equipment on behalf of the trust.

He said: "This new laser means local access for laser therapy and better continuity of care for people who attend Bishop Auckland General Hospital.

"It will also lead to shorter waiting times for laser therapy at both Darlington and Bishop Auckland.

"We are extremely grateful to everyone who has contributed in any way for their help in making this new service possible.''

The appeal was launched in 1999 and a committee made up of members of the South Durham NHS Care Trust and people from the Bishop Auckland Diabetic Association joined forces to raise the money.

More than half of all people with diabetes will experience eye problems and 50 per cent of them will need laser therapy at some stage to help preserve their vision in the long term.

In January next year, a specialist one-stop diabetic eye clinic will be introduced at Bishop Auckland.

This will allow specialists to assess and treat people who need laser therapy on the same day, reducing the number of visits they have to make to hospital.

The Bishop Auckland Laser Appeal has been such a success that it has inspired a £60,000 appeal, which is now under way at Darlington Memorial Hospital to buy a new digital retina camera for screening people suffering from diabetes-related eye diseases.