Brain tumour dad endures year-long wait for "urgent" NHS treatment

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Graham Scott is among thousands who have been forced to greet an unwanted anniversary - a year awaiting an urgent brain operation as a direct product of our broken NHS.His life took a life-changing turn on December 27 last year when he suffered a brain tumour, which has left him virtually housebound.Despite requiring urgent surgery, it is now 12 months - and counting - and he hopes he will receive his operation next month.And NHS worker Graham believes his family’s trauma is a perfect example of what he believes to be the incessant running down of the NHS in Scotland.Graham, wife Jackie and son Callum, 17, have lived with uncertainty frustration and fear since the tumour hit - and they know that delays mean it could be worsening.Endless delays meant that Graham paid £900 for a private MRI scan that revealed the meningioma tumour has penetrated his skull.

He was quoted £40,000 for a private operation - money the family does not have.Graham, of Carluke, Lanarkshire, said: “This is one anniversary I won’t be celebrating.“I can’t tell you how stressful the wait has been for my family and I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.“But the delay is caused by a lack of doctors and a lack of cash, so I can only imagine that there are thousands of people like me, with families all waiting helplessly for stuff that should have happened a long time ago.“It’s pretty obviously to everyone that the NHS is in crisis and it needs proper funding or there will be more and more families left hanging on, not sure if they will ever get the operation they need.”Doctors in Scotland claim they are now operating in a “war zone”, where delays are putting lives at risk.