An Inverurie breast cancer survivor has been told she is “still at the bottom” of an NHS waiting list for reconstruction surgery after more than three years.
Denise Rothnie has been left “annoyed, upset and frustrated” by the length of time she has been left to wait for the delayed surgery.
The 33-year-old was just 29 when she was hit with a breast cancer diagnosis in December 2020, as the country grappled with the Covid lockdown.
She said: “I found a lump and it was really sore and pretty big.”
Despite getting an urgent referral, it would take three months to be seen.
This was despite other concerning symptoms, including discharge from her nipple.
To get more information on some of the main symptoms of breast cancer, visit the NHS website.
Once she arrived at the breast cancer clinic for her appointment, it became immediately clear from doctors that it wasn’t good news.
The 33-year-old praises her treatment once she was diagnosed and chemotherapy started quickly.
However, she required a mastectomy to remove one of her breasts, along with surgery to remove nearby lymph nodes in her armpit.
With less theatre time available due to Covid, she was told she could get the surgery done immediately but wouldn’t be able to get the reconstruction at the same time.
To get both done at the same time would involve a longer wait.
‘I wanted it out of my body’
Understandably wanting the cancer removed as soon as possible, Denise chose to go ahead with the mastectomy on its own.
She said: “I wanted it out of my body. They said we will put you on a waiting list for a reconstruction.
“I was initially told it could be up to a year but hopefully it wouldn’t be that long.
“It’s been over three years since I had my operation and I’m still waiting.”
Denise, who is a trainee care co-ordinator for a home care provider, checks her position on the waiting list every six months or so.
She called around two months ago and was told she was “still at the bottom” and that “people with breast cancer need to be seen first”.
Being a breast cancer survivor herself, Denise was upset by this, as she would never want to stand in the way of someone else getting treatment.
But she added: “That’s never going to stop so I don’t feel I will get up the list.”
Private surgery would cost an estimated £5,000 to £6,000 and is not affordable to her.
She wears a prosthetic breast, has to wear special bras and experiences difficulties finding suitable clothes.
‘I’ve waited three years’
She said: “It’s horrible. I hate it. I’ve got a section at the back of my wardrobe with clothes I might get to wear one day.
“I feel awful in the mirror. It’s something I really want done.
“I’ve waited three years. I’ve waited quite patiently, just to be told I’m still at the bottom. I feel really annoyed, upset and frustrated.”
Denise has completed her treatment, but says it’s only now that the full extent of what she’s been through has hit her.
“It (the diagnosis) was right at the time of Covid. You want friends and family around you and they weren’t allowed to be”, she said.
“No one was allowed to sit next to me during chemo. I felt pretty alone through it all.
“That was really hard.”
We reported last week that NHS Grampian patients face the longest waits in Scotland for starting treatment within a crucial one-month target.
Although Denise’s wait is for surgery after successful cancer treatment, it shows the wider pressures the health board is under.
NHS Grampian apology over reconstruction surgery wait times
An NHS Grampian spokesman said: “We absolutely acknowledge that a number of patients have waited vastly longer than we would have liked for their reconstructive surgery and the impact this has on their day-to-day lives. We’d like to take this opportunity to apologise publicly to them.
“During the pandemic, there were instances where breast cancer patients under went mastectomy procedures, we were not able to undertake the reconstruction element of the surgeries at the same time.
“Unfortunately, surgical capacity remains challenged. While these surgeries are important and vital to the patients awaiting them, we need to prioritise patients based on immediate clinical need.
“Breast reconstruction operations usually take in excess of 12 hours to complete and require a large amount of staff and theatre provisions, which we are currently unable to provide due to a need to prioritise demand elsewhere.
“We have been aware of the issues and challenges this creates for these patients for some time and recently contacted the Scottish Government requesting either additional funding or the use of capacity elsewhere in Scotland, in the hope they can be seen sooner.”
A Scottish Government spokeswoman said it recognises there are patients who have waited “too long” for reconstructive breast surgery.
She added the government is working to identify treatment options for those awaiting delayed reconstruction and continue to engage with boards.
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