Why I am going to Lithuania

My problems started back many years ago following two significant injuries when my knees had been damaged whilst participating in sports. I am also subject to osteoarthritis. I had treatment initially in Abergele and then further surgery, following an injury whilst refereeing a local rugby match at Benllech, under Di Rees in Gobowen. At that time, in the late 1990’s he told me that I would certainly need a knee replacement on my right knee in the next few years. I struggled on until the August of 2014 when, following a fall down the companionway on Mikki Finn as we rounded Bardsey in a bit of rough weather I was seen by Mr Azurza at YG. The prognosis was that I needed a replacement for both knees but that in his opinion the right knee needed the earlier of the two operations and that this would be best as a partial (oxford unicompartmental knee replacement). His advice was that with the partial the recovery time was quicker and the second operation would ensure that not too much loading was placed on the partial replacement. It would therefore be scheduled for 6 months after the first op.

Needless to say the first operation was then a 6 months wait with the operation being finally carried out in February 2015. Following the recovery from the first operation, which was indeed pretty quick, it seemed that I had been forgotten in the disastrous waiting list shambles at BCUHB.

I chased the orthopaedic department’s secretary to Mr Azurza relentlessly, poor woman, from September 2015 onwards and eventually I got to see an extremely apologetic Mr Azurza in Clinic at the 1 and 2 year anniversaries of the first operation. It was clear each time that it was unlikely that I would get an operation anytime soon so I attempted to go down the private route and was then put on the URGENT waiting list in April 2017. During 2017 the Welsh Assembly Government gave BCUHB £13m to shorten their waiting lists by sending people out of area. I wasn’t even contacted, yet I was still on the URGENT waiting list! How does that work…

Current state of my knees 2018-07-02

Following this failure I then applied to treatment overseas and I asked for my health records in relation to my knees. This process was very badly managed and there were many excuses why my data was not available and did not turn up on time. The CD when it finally arrived was specific to Microsoft and not in a format which I could easily read on my mac.

Having decided to look at getting knee surgery abroad I had followed a number of leads looking at different EU countries which I could claim for under EU Article 56. This should have enabled me to get this treatment paid for by the NHS due to the excessive waiting times I have been subjected to.

Pretty much at the time I applied I was suddenly given an appointment with the newly appointed orthopaedic surgeon. I attended the clinic with this person but was not at all impressed with his manner or how he dealt with me. I was, at that point, very troubled and decided to look for information on this surgeon; I could find none. I therefore continued to apply for surgery under Article 56.