Single mother claims she has been left in pain worse than childbirth

A woman suffering from kidney stones says she has spent more than a year in agony after hospital chiefs cancelled her treatment without notice three times.

Melissa Spiteri, of Park Avenue, Willesden Green. said she has been left in pain “worse than giving birth” after struggling with the illness, which causes extreme back pain and nausea.

The single mum went to Northwick Park Hospital’s A&E last November after her work colleagues became alarmed at her state.

Ms Spiteri says she was booked in for an emergency operation on November 26, but after sitting in the waiting room for four hours, was eventually told the operation had been cancelled because the stone was too big to be operated on.

Doctors referred her to Central Middlesex Hospital in Park Royal to have lithotripcy, a non-invasive method of crushing a kidney stone by passing shock waves through the body.

But Ms Spiteri said she had to wait three-and-a-half months before she was booked in for her first appointment in February.

This treatment went ahead, but when she revisited the hospital in April to have a second session Ms Spirteri was told the consultant had cancelled it without telling her, she claims.

She rebooked her appointment for June 7 but doctors again cancelled it without warning.

She said: “The pain I have been in is unreal. It affects me when I am working, it affects everything I do.”

Ms Spiterti said she felt extremely let down by how she has been treated, and has complained to the hospital.

She said: “It is ridiculous. I am in pain and it is affecting my whole life.”

“I am really upset and angry. They are just playing with peoples’ lives.”

A spokesman from the North West London Hospitals NHS Trust said that only one of Ms Spiteri’s appointments – on June 7 – was cancelled.

He said: “Steps were taken to notify all patients about any cancelled sessions on this day. We apologise if the patient in question was not notified soon enough.”