Woman fears she may have to cancel wedding again after NHS wait

A woman who had to cancel her wedding due to an infection fears she may have to miss her rebooked ceremony as she has been unable to see a specialist.

Lynn Mosley, 64, from Somerset says she is constantly dizzy and has been trying to see the necessary doctor since 1 July using an online booking service.

"No matter how you try, you cannot get through to anybody at all," she said.

Somerset NHS Foundation Trust said it would be contacting Miss Mosley shortly to book an appointment.

Miss Mosley said her wedding day on 1 July should have been one of the happiest days of her life, but an ear infection meant she could not stand at the altar at the Middlezoy church.

"I could not get into my wedding dress because I was falling over.

"And so it ended up with myself being in A&E, no doctors were available and basically the whole day was just cancelled," she said.

The former naval intelligence officer has re-booked her wedding for October, but she is worried she may have to cancel that date if her problem persists.

She said she had been off work because of her condition ever since the original date and had been trying to book an appointment with an ear nose and throat (ENT) specialist.

However, she says the NHS Choose and Book system has had no appointments in any of the seven hospitals closest to her.

She said: "I have a thyroid condition and there could be a growth, I need a camera to go down my throat to find out exactly what's going on there.

"But no matter how you try you cannot get through to anybody at all."

Average ENT waiting times in Miss Mosley's home county of Somerset breach the 18 week government target.

NHS England, which is responsible for Choose and Book, told the BBC patients have an option to send a message to their nearest hospital when no appointments are available online.

But when Miss Mosley tried this, she said she received no response. She then rang Bridgwater Community Hospital and was told to ring back in seven weeks, she said.

President of the Royal College of Surgeons Tim Mitchell is concerned about the length of waiting times.

Mr Mitchell said long waits for a first appointment were "particularly true in ENT".

The ENT consultant from Southampton said: "We are surgeons but we are also physicians dealing with people who don't require surgery.

"So only a relatively small proportion of people who are referred into an ENT clinic will end up having an operation.

"And indeed many of the patients who are referred in won't necessarily be referred in with a clear diagnosis."

"They'll have a set of symptoms and be sent in for investigations and so forth which might lead onto a diagnosis," he said.

A spokesperson for Somerset NHS Foundation Trust said: "We want to apologise to Lynn for the difficulties she experienced in trying to book an appointment through the national e-Referral System, and for the distress this has caused her.

"We will shortly contact Lynn directly to book an appointment for her.

"While we have made good progress in reducing waiting times for most specialties in Somerset following the COVID-19 pandemic, including ENT, we know there is more we need to do.

"All our teams are working extremely hard to ensure we continue to provide safe and compassionate care, including additional weekend clinics in a number of surgical specialties."