"3 years on - still waiting"

My father’s journey started 6 years ago when after a number of months attending his GP with excruciating back pain, a visit to A&E and then eventually being discharged by Orthopaedics with “wear and tear”.   He eventually had to go back to his GP as his condition wasn’t improving and he had no relief.  He was met by a Locum who went straight on the phone to the Southern General Hospital at that time and arranged for my father to be seen, this was Thursday, he was admitted on the Sunday night and went through a major back operation on the Monday morning, something that I believe should have been done long before this point.

As time went on my father started to have hip problems and at times found it difficult to walk due to the pain, again he went to the GP and was eventually referred to be reviewed for a possible hip replacement.  After some time when he hadn’t had any appointment letter through, I contacted the referral team to discover that the referral hadn’t actually been put through.  We managed to resolve this issue and he attended his Orthopaedic appointment at the Golden Jubilee in November 2014.  The Consultant advised that a hip replacement was required; however he would like my father to be referred to the Neurology department for further investigations prior to this.  My father was given MRI scans, which unfortunately in July 2015 showed that he had a brain tumour.  My father attended appointments between the Queen Elizabeth hospital where he attends for an annual review MRI and at NHS Ayrshire and Arran, where the doctor was carrying out multiple tests to determine if in fact my father had a genetic condition which affected his ability to walk, to date no conclusion has been drawn. 

He was referred for further genetic testing and received a letter stating that he had not attended his appointment (no appointment letter was ever received).  My mother contacted the number on the letter and left a message on the answering machine, to date there has been no further correspondence.  My father also attended Physiotherapy in this time but has since been discharged.

My father has recently went back to the GP for a further referral for a hip replacement as this was put in the back burner due to the other investigations whilst in this time his condition has only got worse.  We await an appointment letter for an initial consultation which I believe to be at the Golden Jubilee and have been advised there will then be a waiting time of 12 weeks from appointment to treatment, which realistically could be into March 2018, 3 and ½ years from initial consultation.  My father now walks with the assistance of a walking stick, I feel I have watched my father’s physical health deteriorate over the last few years which has understandably had an impact on his confidence and mental health, he has been involved in multiple services with several tests and still no conclusion has been drawn and we are now approaching 3 years since first referral and his initial problem has still not been addressed. As an NHS staff member I am fully aware of the waiting times and pressures faced by our staff however I just feel 3 years is excessive when multi-disciplinary services were involved surely we don’t have to go back to the beginning and start this process all over again with no relief from initial symptoms.