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Man who could face four-years on NHS waiting list is raising £20k to treat ‘intolerable’ back pain privately

A man suffering “intolerable” back pain claims he could be waiting up to four years for NHS treatment, forcing him to turn to costly private care.

Davy Strange, in his late 40s, from Hampshire, developed back pain after an operation in 2017 that has got progressively worse.

His back is now “the most painful thing you can imagine”, leaving him with less than two hours of sleep per night, he said.

“It’s hell. I’m in so much pain,” Mr Strange told i, explaining that his only option is to crowdfund more than £20,000 for private spinal cord stimulator treatment to relieve his back pain.

He claims he was told it would take 16 months to see an NHS pain consultant in his local area. If the pain consultant agreed he needed the treatment, he said he would have to wait another 17 months to see a back surgeon due to the backlog.

Mr Strange told i he would then have to wait for the treatment, with the total wait time stretching as long as four years, he claimed.

It comes as the number of people on the NHS waiting list has soared to 7.6 million, the highest ever number, meaning one in eight people in England is now waiting for hospital treatment.

The figures, for the end of June, show an increase from the 7.47 million people waiting to start routine hospital treatment reported last month.

Mr Strange, who is unemployed due to his disability, went to see his GP about his back pain in March after it became “intolerably bad”. He told i he was sent for an MRI scan and eventually referred to the pain clinic, but claims he was told the wait to see a pain consultant would take 16 months.

“My back is so painful, I can hardly sleep,” he said. “I’m unemployed but I write my own website and I just can’t write anything. I can’t concentrate. I’m in so much pain.

“It feels like burning bits of metal being pressed against the inside of my spine and legs.”

Mr Strange’s partner has scraped together the money for a consultation with a private pain consultant, set to take place on Tuesday.

However, if the consultant recommends spinal cord stimulator treatment, he will have to ask his friends and family for between £20,000 to £25,000.

“That’s so degrading. I just doubt it’s going to happen,” he said.

Mr Strange added: “I have seen the paid consultant and he has to agree on what is the best course of action.

“Judging from what I have heard from the orthopaedic consultant, based on my MRI, the spinal cord stimulator seems to be the best solution for chronic back and leg pain.

“It’s caused by Persistent Spinal Pain Syndrome Type Two, which used to be known as Failed Back Surgery Syndrome.”

The surgery worked to improve his leg movement but gave him back pain as a side effect.

The pain has severely affected his life: “I see my friends from time to time. I’m not really feeling terribly sociable because walking to the pub or going into London for a meal is absolutely agony.

“Getting on a train is more pain than the imagination can handle.”

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