Over 50 Women Face Four-Year Wait for Breast Reconstruction

More than 50 women are experiencing prolonged delays for breast reconstruction surgery, a situation attributed to their initial operations having occurred during the Covid pandemic. One woman, who underwent a double mastectomy in December 2020, informed the BBC that she is unable to resume her life as she continues to await surgery four years later. This backlog in the West Midlands region affects women whose reconstructive procedures were postponed because certain operations could not be performed during lockdown periods. University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Trust has issued an apology and announced its intention to recruit an additional surgeon next month. The woman, a single mother with two children, discovered she carried the BRCA gene, which increases her predisposition to cancer, following surgery on one breast. Ordinarily, the NHS would have performed a risk-reducing second mastectomy and an operation to remove her ovaries, but these services were unavailable during the pandemic. Consequently, she spent £20,000 on further private surgery to ensure she remained cancer-free. However, four years later, she is still awaiting her reconstructive surgery. While women currently undergoing mastectomies receive immediate reconstruction, there is a significant backlog of patients from the pandemic era. This means approximately 50 other women requiring delayed reconstruction are still ahead of her in the queue. “I cannot begin to explain the damage that has been caused to me both mentally and physically in my everyday home and work life,” she said. “As time passes, the stress and anxiety continue to get worse.” She expressed that she was “unable to move forward and rebuild my life.” She further remarked, “As I approach the four-year anniversary of my cancer diagnosis this month, never did it cross my mind that the delay would be such as this.” She concluded, “While I wait for my surgery, I am in limbo. I feel totally let down by the NHS.” Deborah Douglas, from the support group Breast Friends, stated her belief that the NHS did not adequately acknowledge the impact that extended waits for surgery had on mental health. University Hospitals Birmingham confirmed a shortage of oncoplastic surgeons, adding that other hospitals across the country were encountering similar issues because the procedure requires two surgeons and can take up to 12 hours. The trust indicated that extra theatre time had been allocated to those facing long waits, and cases were being managed on a chronological and priority basis. It also hopes to relocate some less complex surgery to Solihull to free up theatre space. A spokeswoman stated, “The recruitment of the additional surgeon will help provide us further surgical capacity in this area, helping us to actively bring waiting times down sooner and improve an experience that we acknowledge is extremely difficult for patients – an experience that we are sorry for.” Information from BBC Birmingham is available on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X, and Instagram. Copyright 2024 BBC. All rights reserved. The BBC disclaims responsibility for the content of external websites. Details regarding its approach to external linking are available.