Edinburgh patient facing '˜nightmare' 16-month wait for knee op

Rick Loup, from Granton, thought he had found a way to cure his debilitating pain caused by osteoarthritis when his GP suggested an appointment with a private consultant as a way of speeding up the process from outpatient  referral to surgery as an inpatient.

The 59-year-old, who works as a duty manager at a garden centre in West Lothian, paid £160 for his private appointment which led the consultant who saw him to write to his GP saying he required knee replacement surgery.

His GP submitted the expert opinion to the NHS in May with his local doctor telling him he was now on the in-patient waiting list. However, after checking in September, Mr Loup found to his “horror” that he was still on the waiting list for an outpatient appointment after being told that NHS Lothian did not accept referrals from private surgeons.

He now faces an agonising wait of ten months for an appointment he has already had and a further delay of up to six months before he receives knee replacement surgery which he already knows is required.

The waiting time for an outpatient appointment is 12 weeks from the time someone sees their GP to a specialist diagnosis, but Mr Loup has been told he will not be seen until March 2018.

He said: “What’s horrifying is it’s a nine-month waiting list for the first outpatient appointment. I’ve spoken to my doctor again and he and his colleagues are still not aware that any policy has changed with regard to accepting referrals for surgery from private consultants. The people in charge of the NHS outpatient waiting lists told me it was a 37-week waiting time for an outpatient appointment but they wouldn’t tell me who was responsible for this.”

He added: “I’ve just been off for nearly ten days with pain in my knee. It’s a garden centre and I can’t lift anything.

“I have to drive a forklift, I have to stand behind tills and serve – I’m putting bags of compost in people’s cars. I’m back at work today because someone gave me a lift – I can’t drive. I’m stuck at a computer but I don’t think my employers would be wrong in asking me to leave after a few months.

“My job is under threat long term – it’s not sustainable.”

Shadow health minister Miles Briggs said he was concerned about “increasingly lengthy waits” for patients.

He added: “This is yet another case which shows the total mismanagement of our Scottish NHS at the hands of this failing SNP government and the negative impact which their failure to plan is having on individuals seeking care and vital operations such as knee and hip replacements.”

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “We would not expect any patient whose treatment has already been diagnosed to have such a long wait.”