8:01am Tuesday 12th September 2006
By Mike Laycock
HE has been waiting since January last year for surgery to his shattered ankle - now pensioner Don Wilkinson has been told the agonising wait may continue until next January.
The 74-year-old retired farmer, of Everingham, near Pocklington, told today how frustrating fresh delays were looming because of new operating restrictions at St James's Hospital in Leeds.
He said staff had told him the surgeon who hopes to repair his ankle could now have only one day a month in the operating theatre for such surgery.
He had been hoping only last month that the op would be carried out by the end of October, but he had been warned it could now be November, December or even January - making it two years since he suffered the injury.
However, he had not been told if this was because of financial cuts or other difficulties over theatre capacity.
"It's ridiculous," he said. "I am sick of it. It's just going on and on. I have worked for myself all my life, and paid a lot in taxes and National Insurance, but now I need the treatment, I don't seem to be able to get it.
"The pain is worse than ever, and I can hardly get out. I'm not one for staying in the home normally. The ankle's condition is even worse - it's amazing it hasn't snapped altogether by now."
The Press first reported Mr Wilkinson's ankle agony earlier this year.
He said he had broken the bone in an accident in his home in early 2005 and a York surgeon had warned him in September last year that the condition had worsened, and urged him to prepare for the loss of his foot.
York Hospital bosses apologised then for some of the delays, which it said were caused by a failure to follow up after a scan.
Within hours of The Press raising his plight with the hospital, he was given an urgent appointment with an orthopaedic surgeon to assess his condition, and was later referred to a specialist in Leeds.
Toby Branfoot, a consultant at St James's Hospital, then told him he should be able to repair the break and save his foot, saying amputation was "very much the last resort" - but there could be no guarantees.
Don's left ankle will also need repairs after being damaged by having so much weight put on it.
He discovered in the summer that he will also need another operation on one of his wrists in York this autumn, because the carpal tunnel has been damaged through putting all his weight on a stick since his ankle broke.
A spokeswoman for St James' Hospital has been unavailable for comment for the last five days.
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