TETBURY Lions Club has donated £15,000 to Tetbury Hospital for the purchase new equipment to keep the eye unit open.

The donation, which is one of the club's largest ever donations, will be used to buy a new visual fields machine for the ophthalmology unit.

The generous contribution comes as part of the 100-year celebration of Lions International. Each Lions Club was asked to plan a Centennial Community Legacy Project.

Visual field tests measure peripheral vision and are used to detect blind spots (scotomas), which could be a sign of eye diseases.

Many eye and brain disorders can cause peripheral vision loss and other visual field abnormalities.

600 patients have had their visual fields checked at Tetbury hospital between April 1 last year and March 31 this year.

Without a visual fields machine, the current unit would expire in April 2018 as the ophthalmology service would not sustainable. This would have had a negative impact on current patients, particularly those with glaucoma who need to visit the hospital regularly to monitor their condition.

The purchase of a replacement machine will therefore enable the eye clinics to continue in Tetbury.

The donation was presented to Zena Dalton, chief executive at Tetbury Hospital Trust, during the Lions Charter Night dinner on Friday, October 20 at the Hare and Hounds Hotel.

The hospital is also looking to acquire an ophthalmic diagnostic scanner.

With the Lions providing most, if not all, of the funding for the visual fields equipment, it has freed up other funds that would allow the hospital to purchase the scanner as well.