A woman has lost the chance to save her sight after being denied treatment with a drug approved for NHS use six months ago.

Marina Borrows, 55, has been told that her condition, the most severe form of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), is now beyond treatment.

Yet she was told as long ago as October that she was a suitable case for the new drug, Macugen, which was cleared for use in July by the executive watchdog, the Scottish Medicines Consortium.

The failure of health boards to put its recommendation into practice was exposed by The Herald in October, when a retired nurse in Greenock was refused the treatment by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde.

Mrs Borrows, who lives in Tillicoultry, Clackmannanshire, was referred to Greater Glasgow's specialist ophthalmology centre at Gartnavel Hospital, and her treatment would have been funded by her home health board, Forth Valley.

NHS Greater Glasgow said that "a business case" was being developed for the provision of Macugen for 300 patients in the west of Scotland who might benefit.

It pointed out that this was a specialist form of therapy requiring the drug to be injected into the eye "in a sterile environment" with the input of a highly specialist team including a consultant ophthalmologist, technical equipment and theatre time.

Mrs Borrows, who is already confined to a wheelchair because of a heart condition, said: "What is this all about? Hygiene in hospitals? It is madness. People are going blind. I myself can no longer make out faces."

She added she was not speaking out for herself - because she can't have the treatment now - but for others left waiting.

AMD occurs when blood vessels grow out of control at the back of the eye. One in 10 patients, like Mrs Borrows, have the "wet" form in which blood leaks into the back of the eye, leading rapidly to blindness. Macugen slows down this deterioration. It costs £4626 for a course of nine injections over a year.

Mrs Borrows, who was born blind in one eye, started to develop AMD in her left eye two years ago.

"The registrar at Gartnavel said I would be suitable for Macugen, but the date they gave me was 12th December. I knew my sight was deteriorating and that would be too late," she said.

"Then I got a letter saying I had an appointment for November 21, but when I went to Gartnavel I was told I could not have the treatment. I was told it was for hygiene reasons.

"Later I was told I was too late to get it, which I don't understand since I had not gone through any more tests since the registrar told me I was suitable."

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said: "We are very sympathetic to Ms Burrows and would like to reassure patients that the prescribing of Macugen is a matter of uppermost importance and priority to us."