"Excessive waiting time for hip replacement"

I write for a friend. 

Although it was known by NHS that she was living alone in a very challenging property, NHS was very slow to respond to her urgent need of hip joint replacement surgery. Having been referred by her GP to the local NHS service in February 2017 and then waiting until June 2017 (more than eighteen weeks later) to be assessed by an orthopaedic surgeon, she was told that replacement surgery was clearly needed but was not likely to be scheduled until "sometime next year".

"Sometime next year" turned out to be an appointment to attend as an inpatient in April 2018 (almost 14 months after the original GP referral). The appointment letter ended with the advice, "The Treatment Time Guarantee provides you with the right to start your treatment within 12 weeks of agreeing a date with the Consultant or Clinician." I wonder what that advice means, precisely?

The cash was scraped together for her to have her hip replaced abroad in August  2017 after which an application was made through NHS complaint procedure to reclaim some of the expense - notably for the modest charges of the clinic abroad - but NHS Highland refused to consider such a claim.

I am particularly concerned that NHS Highland seemed to simply ignore a patient's special needs. Without the intervention from the clinic abroad it is more than possible that this patient would have been at serious risk of falling due to her very limited ability to move around her home. I am happy to say she is doing very well now - no thanks to NHS Highland.