A patient on an "urgent" NHS waiting list for hip surgery has been told it could take another four and a half years for the operation to be carried out. Dad Ian Hembrow, from Maesteg, Bridgend, dislocated his right hip for the fourth time in November 2020 and needed a spell at Princess of Wales Hospital for it to be put back in.
Doctors decided that the 53-year-old would require an operation and was placed on an urgent waiting list under Swansea Bay University Health Board's consultant orthopaedic surgeon. But after spending the following year in almost constant pain and discomfort he complained about the delay and was sent a letter back in January 2022 confirming that there was still no date for the procedure to be carried out.
To make matters worse he was astonished to then learn that the current waiting time to undergo the hip procedure was a colossal 229 weeks – almost four-and-a-half years. "When I was given the letter I honestly thought the figure of 229 weeks was a mistake," said Mr Hembrow. "This is meant to be the urgent waiting list so God knows how long people will be waiting if it's not urgent."
