LUKE MARSDEN: our bureaucracy-heavy NHS is failing millions of us

​My “yearly” check-up has now been reduced to bi-annually. What next I ask? Every leap year?

A decade ago I was diagnosed with a degenerative condition called keratoconus (not to be confused with Kerry Katona: you wouldn’t want her in your eye!) which basically and, ironically for a Wigan guy, makes my cornea rugby ball-shaped.

My vision is affected and the condition is incurable. When finally diagnosed I was told I could only be treated via outpatient appointments at the Royal University Hospital in Liverpool as they have a specialist eye unit.

In 2016 I underwent surgery on both eyeballs (sorry for those squeamish) which involved having my corneas scraped and blasted with a cocktail of drugs and ultraviolet light which locked the disease into place in an effort to prevent its spread.

The surgery was a success and I was told in subsequent years that the disease hasn’t progressed but now I’m sitting here wondering ‘has it?’

My last check-up to ensure everything is still OK was in January 2022. Since then I’ve had a series of yellow letters through the post (sometimes after the date of the cancelled appointment) informing me that my appointment had been re-arranged for another arbitrary date in six months’ time.

I’ve phoned up, I’ve filled formal complaints and I’m now trapped in a rinse and repeat cycle. My next scheduled appointment is August, two and a half years since my last one. Like my eyesight maybe, hope is fading fast.

The NHS is stuffed to the brim full of policy professionals and those who love paperwork, so much so that even in 2024 we’re still sending physical printed letters out in the post.

I am just one of millions being failed by a system with more money pumped into it than ever before.

The NHS is broken and until we are prepared to have a serious conversation about why, then those yellow letters will keep landing on doormats.