Year wait for spinal surgery forces boy to fly to India for operation

Aug 7 2005

A mother who has been told her son may have to wait a year for a spine operation to restore his mobility, is to fly him to India for the procedure.

Elliot Knott, 14, of Charminster, Dorset, injured his back in a ice-skating accident on New Year's Eve.

His mother Karen, 44, who has been told her son may have to wait a year for a spinal operation, has instead opted to pay £4,700 for him to have the work done in Delhi, plus £1,260 on flights.

According to Southampton General Hospital, she had been told the worst-case scenario, but they hoped things could go ahead soon, and they are neither inflexible nor unsympathetic.

Ms Knott was apparently told by the hospital that Elliot would have to wait 17 weeks to see a consultant, and then, if he was considered an urgent case, would be put on a nine-month waiting list.

Elliot, who is a keen swimmer and captain of the West Dorset Warriors swimming team, suffers from spondylolisthesis, a condition that develops when a vertebra slips out of position in the spine and presses on a nerve.

Since Easter he has been housebound and unable to go to lessons at the Thomas Hardye School in Dorchester, where he is due to start his GCSEs in September.

Mrs Knott has taken the summer off work to care for her son, and says the waiting time was "ridiculous".

She was concerned about her son's psychological state if he had to wait for a year for the operation.

She has booked the flights for 9 August.

Elliot can apparently move around the house but if he stands up for more than two or three minutes it is quite painful.

A spokesperson for Southampton General Hospital says the hospital was trying to balance high demand with scarce skills.