A single mother of six children has been waiting four years and four months to see a consultant for suspected multiple sclerosis in Northern Ireland as officials admit in leaked court papers that health waiting lists have spiralled out of control.
Although referred to a neurologist in June 2017, Eileen Wilson, 47, has still not received a date to see the specialist despite suffering choking episodes that leave her blue in the face, loss of muscle control and a multitude of other symptoms.
She is one of the hundreds of thousands of patients suffering in silence because of the chronic waiting lists that have been building since 2013, according to testimony submitted to the high court.
Her case is at the centre of two landmark cases to be heard in December and January against the Northern Ireland health minister, Robin Swann, the UK chancellor, Rishi Sunak, and the health secretary, Savid Javid, who were named as defendants in the case last week after affidavits from Northern Irelands Department of Health blamed years of underfunding for the crisis.
Sitting in her garden in her army veteran house in Belfast, Wilson said she would not give up the fight even though the human rights commission, her GP, and her MP, Gavin Robinson, have all failed to get her an appointment.
I just want to know whats wrong with me, she says.
She explains how she staggers around her home like a drunk even though she does not drink and now suffers episodes of sleep paralysis, which has been likened to locked-in syndrome.
When I go to bed all the worry is there, its like a washing machine on full spin, she said.
I worry that if I fall or choke, thats going to be the end of it. Die? Yes, she answers. It can happen anytime. Its like something is stuck in my throat. Ive gone blue in the face. It lasts for a few minutes but it feels like hours, she said.
To her shock, she heard through her MP that her GPs referral had been downgraded from urgent to routine, with the chief executive of South Eastern health and social care trust telling Robinson that regrettably the waiting time for an appointment was 163 weeks three years and 13 weeks.
I am very sorry that we have not yet been able to offer Mrs Wilson an appointment, he said.
Four years and four months later, she is none the wiser.
Her solicitor, Ciaran OHare of McIvor Farrell, has already applied successfully for leave for a judicial review, which is now listed for January with a second case expedited for hearing in December over a failed bid to get her an appointment overseas under EU legislation transposed into domestic law.
He said her case was for the benefit of the people of Northern Ireland and is asking the court to conclude that the waiting lists, the worst in the UK for much of the past decade, are unlawful and a breach of human rights.
This saga has been going on in Northern Ireland for over 10 years and hospital waiting lists have been getting longer and longer. We do not have the NHS here, like in England; we have health and social care and it doesnt work, said OHare.
This is the first case of its kind and it is absolutely crucial because something must be done to end the suffering that is occurring every single day with people languishing and dying on hospital waiting lists, he added.
Recent figures show nearly a fifth of Northern Irelands population are waiting for a first appointment and more than half of those are waiting for more than a year.
It is the case that the majority of people on the waiting list are waiting for more than a year, which is pretty extraordinary, said Mark Dayan, a policy analyst at the health services thinktank the Nuffield Trust.
Waiting lists are the worst in the UK and possibly in Europe. Last week, the childrens commissioner revealed that 24 children with confirmed or suspected cancer were among the 17,000 minors waiting more than a year to see a specialist.
Affidavits submitted to the courts and seen by the Guardian paint a grim picture.
A senior official in the Department of Health in his testimony, said the delays were extremely regrettable but the health minister had repeatedly said a significant increase in funding was necessary to make a return to acceptable levels.
While doctors, nurses, other health professionals and managers have made every effort to ensure that any negative impact on patients has been kept to a minimum, waiting times have continued to grow to a level where many believe that they are now out of control, he added.
Dayan said Northern Irelands waiting lists began to spiral to more and more unacceptably poor levels relative to the rest of the UK 10 years ago.
He said one year-plus waits were almost unheard of in England before Covid, but have been common in Northern Ireland. Out of an estimated 460,000 on a waiting list, 250,000 have been on it for more than a year, he said.
The Department of Health declined to comment due to ongoing court proceedings.
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Woman has four-year wait to see Northern Ireland neurologist - The Guardian
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