"Five years with no help from Wrightington Hospital"

Over the five years since it diagnosed osteoarthritis in my right hip (i.e. since the start of 2016), Wrightington Hospital allowed it to deteriorate to the point when it became severe and the crippling pain rendered me virtually immobile and no longer able to get the minimum amount of sleep. The hospital knew I was desperate for a hip replacement, but even as late as 1st March 2021 my consultant, having shown no interest in how I was coping, dropped the bombshell that they couldn’t give me any indication as to when my operation might go ahead. In total despair, I managed to organise a transfer to another NHS hospital, which offered me a total hip replacement on 7th April 2021, that is within one month of receiving my GP’s referral – a truly astonishing contrast! If I myself managed to switch to another hospital, why couldn’t Wrightington help me – and much earlier? I had been fobbed off with offers of cortisone injections and mantras about it being best to rush surgery – who in their right mind would want to rush a serious operation before actually needing it? And, most importantly, the hospital failed to offer me a consultation way back in 2019, when the extent of my pain undoubtedly warranted my inclusion on the waiting list. In 2017, I had been expressly promised by one of the registrars that I would be recalled within the next two years, but 2019 came and went and the hospital never bothered to contact me. Even then , I was already in severe pain, and the opioid painkillers I was on were losing their potency (in addition to having horrendous side effects). I had to chase the hospital myself for a consultation in March 2020, but it was subsequently cancelled owing to the pandemic (which is understandable). After some more chivvying on my part, I managed to secure a consultation in July 2020, and it was only then - far too late - that I was put on the waiting list (albeit as Priority Level 3, which means to be operated on within three months). I then had my pre-operative assessment in October 2020 for the operation scheduled for 9th November 2020, but it was subsequently cancelled owing to the pandemic - which, again, I understand. What I cannot understand is the false hope being dangled in front of me for nearly five months afterwards (i.e. about my having been placed at the top of the priority list) - until that cruel telephone call by my consultant on 1st March 2021. And he didn't even ask how I was coping! If he had, he would have learnt that my pain was now so excruciating that even an overdose seemed an attractive alternative. But nobody seemed to care, and it is only my decision to finally abandon all hope in Wrightington Hospital that saved my life - literally. Both hospitals had to contend with the pandemic, yet one failed to help me over a five-year period, while the other, with no prior obligation to me, completed the entire process in one month – a truly astonishing contrast!