"and the wait for orthotics goes on..."

In November 2007 I was referred to a Podiatric Surgeon, at Bournemouth and Poole PCT, for consideration of surgery to my toe. In February 08 it was decided that orthotics might be enough to prevent surgery and I was referred for these. I saw the biomechanics podiatrist on the middle of April, she took casts of my feet and said it would be a 2-3 month wait for the orthotics.

13 weeks later there was no sign of the orthotics so I phoned to ask how much longer they would be and was told the wait was actually 4 months. After 4 months I phoned again and was told 5 months. After 5 months I was told they would be put in the post the next week. The orthotics finally arrived in September, more than 7 months after referral.

'Hurray' I though, but my pleasure was short lived, as the orthotics started falling apart after only a few hours wear and had to be returned!

So, nearly 8 months after referral, I am still waiting. Now, I know this is not life threatening and might seem a trivial problem to many people, but this has seriously curtailed my activities. If I'd known at the beginning how long this would take, I'd probably have accessed some privately.