MP Owen Paterson forced to lie flat after eye surgery
Environment Secretary and North Shropshire MP Owen Paterson will be forced to lie on his back staring at the ceiling for four days while he recovers from eye surgery, his wife said today.
Mr Paterson returned home from hospital in London yesterday after undergoing surgery for a detached retina.
His wife, Rose, said the surgery went well and thinks her husband will be back at work by the middle of next week.
The sight in one of Mr Paterson's eyes had deteriorated rapidly over a few days.
Without the operation there was a danger he may not have been able to read properly in the future.
He was forced to relinquish his duties overseeing the operation to fight the floods as he underwent surgery.
Mrs Paterson said: "He is home now and the surgery went well. There was severe damage to his retina. He has got to lie on his back for four days staring at the ceiling.
"He feels pretty awful and the eye looks dreadful. I have been trying to make him comfortable.
"I told him not to think about going back to work until he feels better. Hopefully it will be the middle of next week.
"We hope he makes a full recovery. The surgeon was pleased with how it went.
"We don't know the cause of it. There are so many different ones. Stress and trauma are two causes."
Prior to undergoing the surgery, Mr Paterson handed over the task of dealing with the flooding crisis to Communities Secretary Eric Pickles.
He was due to chair a meeting of the Government's Cobra emergency committee on Thursday and give a statement to the House of Commons on the ongoing floods in parts of Britain, but withdrew from both.
Mr Paterson was the target of residents' anger when he visited the flood-hit Somerset Levels.
A meeting of the Cobra committee on Wednesday was chaired by David Cameron.
