'A two-year wait for hip op because I live in Wales'

PATIENTS from Wales are being told to wait longer for NHS surgery in England because their health board can’t afford shorter waits across the border.

- ABBIE WIGHTWICK Education editor

Melanie Wallace, 59, from Howey, near Llandrindod Wells, said she was told she would wait 12 months for a hip replacement in England.

After waiting 59 weeks, she has now been told the wait will last a further 45 weeks because of a change of policy in Wales.

Mrs Wallace, who described how she is in constant pain, says she was told by Powys Teaching Health Board Trust that the longer wait for hip and knee surgery was due to a policy that people from all areas should have similar waiting-times for treatment.

The latest data shows that the longest waits for NHS treatment in Wales have risen.

A keen gardener and motorcyclist, Mrs Wallace still works but cannot do the activities she used to because of worsening osteoarthritis.

After a pre-op in March, she was told a hip replacement would be offered in May. But she was then given a date that she had already told them wasn’t possible as she was starting a new job.

Mrs Wallace, who is married with grownup children, said she was horrified to then be told by the Wye Valley Trust in Herefordshire that the waiting-time policy for Welsh patients had been extended.

“When I rang the hospital in June, I was told the policy in Wales had changed and I would now have to wait a total of 104 weeks - so another 45. They are trying to get everyone in Wales roughly the same time on the waiting list.

“I feel forgotten and not important. I don’t know anything. It’s just a big hole and this has affected all people in Powys waiting.”