Op delay means pain and ruined Christmas

Margaret Webster, 70, used to be a keen walker and morris dancer. But she has been suffering leg pain since September 2016.

She says that the Medical Specialist Group and Health & Social Care have messed her around and added her to the hip replacement waiting list only in June.

But she still has no date for her operation and says her hip pain is destroying her life.

‘I have paid a lot into the system and I have got no help,’ she said. ‘I just can’t cope any more. And I still don’t have a date.’

She was invited to spend Christmas with her family and grandchildren in the UK, but feels unable to fly.

She loves gardening and used to do the outdoor jobs such as emptying the gutters. She also used to enjoy morris dancing and going on walking holidays. But all of that has had to end with her hip problems.

‘This has come as a huge blow,’ she said. ‘And what’s frustrating is that it’s fixable.’

MSG said it does not comment on individual cases.

A Health & Social Care spokesman echoed this.

‘However, in general terms we are always sorry to hear of any patient who is unhappy and would encourage them to contact their clinical lead in the first instance,’ he said.

HSC and MSG has been struggling with orthopaedic delays, with more than half of patients waiting longer than the contractual eight weeks. Six have been waiting more than a year and 95 more than six months.

Mrs Webster had taught maths at Les Beaucamps School and Elizabeth College and when she retired she remained active.

However, after suffering persistent leg pains on her right side, she was sent for an X-ray in September 2016. She said she was then shunted around the MSG, as they did not want to put her on the orthopaedic waiting list.

It was only in June, after undergoing physiography, hydrotherapy and cortisone injections, that a hip replacement was offered.

By this point she was taking eight paracetamol a day to try to cope with increasing pain. She can no longer put any weight on her left hip and relies on a stick.

But today she has still not got an operation date.

She said even once she got a date, there was likely to be a two month lead in time. And with theatres undergoing a deep clean in February, she was worried the earliest she would have the operation was March.

‘My whole life is on hold,’ she said.

She can only go to one shop when shopping rather than browse, as she cannot walk far. However she cannot get a disabled parking badge as the hip problem is considered temporary.

Mrs Webster moved to Guernsey 28 years ago and said she felt let down by the system. She has contacted MSG and HSC but still has not got a date.

‘No one seems to be accountable,’ she said.

She said she had considered going private, but her only savings are her boiler fund. And as her boiler is 32 years old, she was keen not to dip into that.

She added that a friend saw a surgeon in October and was given a February operation date.

The HSC spokesman said they had agreed a number of measures aimed at reducing the current pressures affected waiting times for orthopaedic surgery.

‘We would again repeat our earlier apology to all who have been waiting a long time for their operation.’