West Yorkshire dad forced to quit work to care for sick daughter after year-long wait for surgery

A father from West Yorkshire has been forced to quit work to care for his daughter after she was forced to wait more than a year for kidney surgery amid a growing NHS backlog.

Chris Slater's 19-month-old daughter Aisling was diagnosed with stage four kidney reflux in November 2020.

The condition causes urine in the bladder to flow in the wrong direction. Aisling, who lives in Heckmondwike, needs surgery to resolve the issue and potentially fix kidney scarring.

Under normal circumstances patients are told to expect a four-to-six-month wait for an operation, but the toddler has been on the waiting list for over a year.

Mr Slater's wife, Beth says he had to quit his job to be able to care for his daughter, who has been in and out of hospital with infections and sepsis.

"We were in and out of hospital more than we ever expected and it just wasn't possible for us both to be in jobs.

"Having this operation go ahead would give us the chance to go back to the life we had perviously to Aisling being ill."

It comes as a new report by the Health and Social Care Committee has found there are 5.8 million patients waiting for planned care because of backlogs created by Covid, and estimates that this figure could double by 2025.

Beth said she understands the pressures Covid has caused, but that the delay is very "upsetting."

She added: "I do feel like we do need to get back to a way of being able to live again and being able to prioritise the people that really need the treatment."