Bone-on-bone agony: the cruel reality of facing a three-year waiting list for a new knee

When Alexandra McTeare was told she might have to wait three years for knee replacement surgery, she felt desperate. “Because of how miserable your life is, how small it has become,” she says.

The problems with her knee started in 2017. “It was painful and would swell up, particularly in the heat.” She would take painkillers and keep her leg elevated when she was sitting down, and did stretching exercises for her muscles. But over the next few years, “it gradually got worse, the intervals between swelling episodes reduced and the pain increased”. It reached a point where it was no longer bearable.

Ten years ago, McTeare could get a GP appointment within a week. “Now, you phone up and you’re lucky if you get an appointment within a month, and nine times out of 10 it’ll be a nurse practitioner.” McTeare has nothing against nurse practitioners; she used to be a nurse herself and she was working for the NHS when they were introduced to GP practices. “But they’re not appropriate for everything,” she says. “People do need to be able to see a GP.”

Her knee didn’t get better. The opposite happened. “I didn’t believe it was a torn meniscus, it was going on and on, so I decided: to hell with it, I’ll pay and see somebody privately.” In March 2023, she saw an orthopaedic consultant, got an X-ray, was told she had arthritis in her knee and needed a total knee replacement. It took no more than half an hour and cost her £400. McTeare says she is lucky she could raise the money for a private consultation. But she wants to make something clear: “I have always despised private medicine.”

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Source: The Guardian, 27 November 2024

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