‘Inhumane’ rule change increases dad’s anxiety
I HAVE read, like everybody else, horrendous tales of healthcare going down the pan, operations being cancelled left right and centre, and have watched our National Health Service turn into a Covid health service.
This has been brought home to me by the situation my own daughter is facing.
My three-year-old girl was born with a cataract and has had three surgeries so far.
We are trying to save the sight in her left eye and give her the best chance of having the vision she needs to live a life without limits.
We were informed only a few months ago, during the height of the pandemic, that she needed another operation to remove another opacity from her eye.
We then learned that the Leicester eye department’s laser machine was broken, and there were no funds or plans to replace the machine.
We were in turn referred to Great Ormond Street children’s hospital, in London, so the surgery could be performed.
The surgery was booked in and we made our arrangements around the date we were given.
We were told we had to stay at the hospital for four days so my daughter could have a coronavirus test on the Saturday, and we could leave on the Tuesday after her operation on the Monday.
However, we have now been informed of new legislation, dreamed up by the utterly incompetent Matt Hancock, that meant parents travelling with their child from a lockdown area would not both be able to attend the operation, or the Covid test two days before, or even be allowed to stay in the accommodation provided by Great Ormond Street Hospital.
Being from central Leicester, we were included in this legislation.
This now meant my wife was expected to stay in London for four days on her own with my child, attend the Covid test on Saturday morning, then stay in London until Tuesday.
It is my duty in life to support the two people I love the most, and I am not about to let my wife and daughter go through this without me, so I had no choice but to postpone the operation until Leicester is out of lockdown.
We are lucky, though. my daughter’s operation is not lifesaving, and she has four years of eye rehabilitation ahead of her regardless, so we can afford to postpone.
But what about those poor families with children facing make-orbreak operations who are not able to have both parents present? This is disgusting and inhumane.
Dale Attkinson, Leicester