A JERSEY pensioner who lives in “constant pain” after waiting over two years for a foot operation has said health leaders must “pull their finger out” as more than 700 Islanders remain trapped on surgery waiting lists for over a year.
Angie, who is in her 70s, has been waiting around 18 months for the first of two operations on her arthritic feet – and fears she could face a similar delay all over again for the second.
She spoke to the JEP after Health bosses admitted they were “not comfortable” with the scale of waits affecting 722 patients – and unveiled plans to spend up to £2.3 million to tackle the backlog.
Angie said: “The only way to describe it is like somebody’s digging a knife into my foot.
“I’m sitting down now, and my left foot is pulsating. It’s like that 24/7. When I go to bed, there are times I can’t have the covers on my feet because the covers are too heavy.”
She added: “It’s painful every single day of the week. It does have a psychological effect. There are days when I think, ‘oh, God, this pain is just so great’, but I try and not let it get me down, because I think if you go down that line, it’s a very hard slope to come back up.”
Angie first saw a consultant privately, but her insurance would not cover the procedure.
She was placed on the public waiting list and, when she asked how long it would be, was told: “How long is a piece of string?” Almost two years later, she is still waiting.
Once active and rarely without her Labradoodle, Angie used to walk from her home at First Tower into town and back, then head to the beach later the same day.
Now, she says, even a short bus trip into St Helier requires careful planning and recovery time.
“I have to plan if I’m going to do something. I’ll rest up this morning, and then I have to come back and rest up in the afternoon,” she said.
She can no longer wear ordinary shoes, struggles to stand long enough to cook a Sunday roast, and has fallen down stairs when her feet “have just not done what they should do”.
Even driving can be agony.
“I hardly ever use my car now because I can’t guarantee that I’m going to be safe using it,” she explained.
The wait has been made all the more bitter by the fact that Angie spent much of her working life caring for others.
Now retired, Angie previously worked as a carer – a job that required her to be constantly on her feet.
“There’s no way I could do that now,” she said.
Her role involved being able to physically assist the people she supported, including navigating stairs. Now, Angie says she manages the stairs in her own home just once a day because of the pain.
“If I’d have had this then, I’d have had to give up work,” she said.
The condition is also affecting joints already replaced due to wear and tear.
“It’s affecting my posture,” she explained. “I’ve got two artificial hips and two artificial knees and, because of the way that I’m walking, it’s having a knock-on effect through all my lower limbs.”
When Angie previously had her hips and knees operated on, she was able to access care quickly because she had private medical cover at the time.
“Why should it be that way when, if you’ve got the money, you can go and get it done tomorrow?” she asked.
She welcomed news that millions could now be ringfenced to clear the backlog, but questioned why action only follows crisis.
“If you can do it now, why can’t you do it before?” she asked.
“Don’t let it hit crisis – get it done when people need it. Why have people got to wait months and months or years?
“Everybody should be getting the same treatment in the same amount of time. You should not be prioritised because you can afford to pay.”
Health leaders have warned that failing to invest could see waiting lists soar by up to 125% in two years.
A total of £1.5 million is proposed to be ringfenced immediately to allow planning and mobilisation to begin, with further allocations dependent on detailed cost modelling and the Health Department’s financial performance in the first quarter of 2026.
