'I'll go blind without operation': Strikes extend patient's year-long NHS wait
Jane Fitzgerald was "absolutely gutted" when she learned the NHS appointment she'd been waiting almost a year for had been cancelled due to this week's consultant's strike.
Without treatment for her Fuchs' dystrophy, which is currently severely impacting her sight, she will eventually go blind.
"Argh, not me," she thought when an NHS nurse told her of the cancellation, because she's been waiting an "awfully long time" for this appointment - since September last year.
Ms Fitzgerald is one of thousands who have had planned NHS appointments cancelled due to senior doctors walking out of hospitals on Thursday and Friday in a dispute over pay.
'My initial reaction was 'argh, not me': Jane reacts after appointment cancelled following year-long wait
But after waiting two years before last September to be diagnosed with Fuchs' dystrophy, the university lecturer is getting frustrated.
At the moment her disease means she can't drive unless the light conditions are perfect and the former bookworm has lost her ability to read comfortably.
She is awaiting a cornea transplant, which will restore her cloudy eyesight, but without the operation she says "eventually I would go blind".
"That's a long way down the line, I'm not about to go imminently blind, but this is something that is impacting on my life and my ability to do my job," she said.
'I will eventually go blind': Jane explains her situation
The appointment she is waiting for will assess how bad her condition is, let her know what to expect for the future and put her on the waiting list for a cornea transplant.
"I'm not very happy really to be honest," she told ITV News, adding: "I have no idea now how long I'm going to have to wait."
The teacher, whose own profession went on strike this year, says she is conflicted about consultants walking out, because she supports their aims but is concerned about what damage could be caused.
"The doctors took an oath to do no harm and the chances are that they are doing harm today," she said.
NHS England has warned of "severe delays" to the health service and said almost all routine appointments will be brought to a "standstill" because there are no clinicians who are able to cover for consultants.
But five further strike days are planned for the coming months, with the dispute over pay between the British Medical Association and the government far from over.
Consultants are on strike for 48 hours and bosses have warned patients to expect significant disruption, as ITV News' Issa Farfour reports
More walkouts are planned on September 19 and 20, along with a newly announced three day strike on October 2, 3 and 4.
And Health Secretary Steve Barclay's latest comments that the latest pay offer for consultants is "final" suggest there is no end in sight.
Mr Barclay said: "I am concerned and disappointed that the BMA has gone ahead with this industrial action, which will continue to affect patients and hamper efforts to cut NHS waiting lists.
"I'm aware some consultants cut short their annual leave over the most recent periods of industrial action by the BMA Junior Doctors Committee and I am incredibly grateful to those staff who came forward to help protect patients and services.
"We have accepted the independent pay review body recommendations in full, giving consultants a 6% pay rise, which means average NHS earnings for consultants of £134,000, on top of a pension where generous tax changes mean a consultant can retire at age 65 with a pension each year for life of £78,000 a year.
"This pay award is final and I urge the BMA to call an end to strikes."
NHS waiting list hits record length despite PM's plan to cut it
The latest NHS England figures, revealed on August 10, show there are more people waiting to start routine hospital treatment than at any time since records began in 2007, with around 100,000 people joining this waiting list in a month.
An estimated 7.6 million people were waiting to start treatment at the end of June, up from 7.5 million in May, NHS England said.
One of the prime minister's top priorities is cutting NHS waiting lists. In January, Rishi Sunak promised “lists will fall and people will get the care they need more quickly”.
The latest numbers show the government has already failed on its pledge to eliminate all waits of more than 18 months by April this year, with 7,177 people still estimated to have been waiting more than a year and a half. This is down from 11,446 at the end of May.The number of people waiting more than 52 weeks to start routine hospital treatment at the end of June fell slightly to 383,083, down from 385,022 at the end of May.
More than 835,000 appointments have been postponed as a result of industrial action since December across the health service in England, according to NHS figures.
The number of people waiting more than 12 hours in A&E departments in England from a decision to admit to actually being admitted was 23,934 in July, down 10% from 26,531 in June.