After NHS hospital tells teenager to wait a year, he has spine operation done in India

Aug 14 2005

After he was told he would have to wait more than a year for a vital back operation in the UK, a teenager has been treated at a private hospital in India.

According to his mother Karen, Elliot Knott, 14, of Charminster, Dorset, who injured his back in an ice-skating accident on New Year's Eve, was told he would have to wait 17 weeks for an appointment with a consultant, and then another 9 months for the operation.

Elliot, a sporty active lad, who captained the West Dorset Warriors swimming team and attends Thomas Hardye School, is suffering from spondylolisthesis, a condition which develops when a vertebra slips out of line in the spinal column and presses on a nerve.

He had been imobilised by the accident and his mother was growing more concerned about his mental state as time went on, so she decided to pay £4,700 for him to have the work done in Delhi.

He is now recovering in hospital and is expected to return to the UK in 2 weeks.

According to a spokesman for Southampton General Hospital Mrs Knott had initially been given "the worst-case maximum waiting time targets".