Gran, 90, waited 60 weeks for surgery - family

The daughter of a 90-year-old women said her faith in the NHS had been dented after her mum was left waiting more than 60 weeks for surgery and was removed from a hospital waiting list.

Veronica Ash, from Leek, missed her granddaughter's wedding due to her wait for surgery at the Royal Stoke University Hospital.

Although she has now had her operation, her daughter Angie Balwako said she was "a shadow of herself" during the delay.

A spokesperson for the University Hospitals of North Midlands (UHNM) NHS Trust said it had been liaising with Ms Ash and her family while it investigated the issue.

Ms Balwako told BBC Radio Stoke her mum was given a heart check, to make sure she would be safe under anaesthetic due to her age.

The family chose not to reveal the nature of the surgery publicly.

Months passed, Ms Balwako said, and they did not hear back from the hospital and later found out her mother had been taken off her waiting list.

"We kept ringing up the waiting list line but they didn't pick up the phone. We left messages on the waiting list line and none of them were returned," she said.

"At her 90th birthday celebration, my mum's focus was 'don't count me in on the numbers, I might be in hospital then'."

Ms Balwako said she was concerned about how many other people may have been removed from waiting lists without realising and were not familiar with the process and therefore had not pursued it.

Her mother was recovering well from the operation, she said.

In a statement, chief nurse Ann-Marie Riley, from UHNM, said the trust was sorry to hear of Ms Ash's experience.

"We take all concerns raised very seriously and have a robust process in place to investigate and feedback findings to patients and/or their families," she said.

"We have been liaising with Ms Ash and her family while we fully investigate the issues they have raised and will be in direct contact with our findings."

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