A GRANDMOTHER is distressed after being told by the NHS she must wait 40 weeks before a professional can see to her swollen leg.

Christine Salvage, from Colbourne Avenue in Moulsecoomb, is suffering from severe swelling in her left leg.

She has arthritis in her knee, but is still clueless as to why her leg has ballooned twice its normal size.

The 71-year-old went to the Royal Sussex County Hospital and was transferred to the rheumatology department.

Then she was told there would be a 40-week waiting list.

Christine said: “I am in a lot of pain.

“Rather than speeding up my appointment to have my knee checked I just seem to be offered more morphine.

“To be honest I don’t fancy more morphine because I don’t want to become a zombie.

“I am already on morphine patches that don’t seem to be doing too much, but the idea of strengthening the dose is not very appealing.

“I know that there is a risk of getting addicted to the drug.”

Christine said she was told she could book an appointment with the rheumatology department within four to six weeks.

But after days of trying to get through on the phone, she said she was disappointed to be told “sorry, it’s 40 weeks’ waiting time”.

She was otherwise advised to attend a clinic in a “different area” to see if other places had shorter waiting times.

Her only other option is to go private.

She said: “There is of course the possibility of paying for the treatment but I can’t afford it.

“It might be faster but it’s very expensive.

“I need a knee replacement to sort out this pain and they can only do that if the swelling has gone.

“But I can’t wait that long.”

Christine went for an MRI scan recently to see what was wrong with the leg.

But it was so swollen it failed fit the machine properly.

She said: “There was a lot of improvising and it took about two hours to have the scan.

“It’s hard to tell what’s wrong with it which is why they have transferred me to rheumatology clinic.

“I would have thought that would be a sign that my leg really does need to be looked at.”

Christine’s husband Brian is looking after her while she is barely mobile.

He said: “What I find amazing is they manage to build all these hospitals but they just don’t seem to have enough doctors to fill them.

“She’s in a lot of pain.

“I hope this is sorted soon.”

A spokesman for Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust said: “We are very sorry that some patients are faced with a longer than expected waiting time for a rheumatology appointment.

“We are working hard to reduce these waiting times and have recently increased the number of specialists within the team.”