Almost 10,000 NHS patients have been through the doors of the Newcastle Westgate Cataract Centre since the NHS facility opened last July.
The Westgate Road centre - run by the Newcastle Hospitals NHS Trust - has the capacity to see up to 1,000 patients a month, and this has been vital in bringing down huge waiting lists in the city. One of those patients, pensioner Doris McGuire, 86, was even featured on the Geordie Hospital TV show.
At its peak, 6,000 people were waiting for cataract procedures in the city. Since the centre has been open, 9,500 people have been through its doors for a procedure.
