Endometriosis patient is one of millions waiting for NHS treatment, as numbers have soared
Jasmine is in so much pain she can hardly get out of bed.
She’s clutching a hot water bottle and taking morphine, a strong painkiller which she says turns her into “a zombie”.
“It’s like there’s like a ball of acid in the middle of my torso and it’s burning its way through each of my organs. And it feels like that 24/7,” said the 23-year-old.
The pain Jasmine is describing is caused by endometriosis, a debilitating condition where cells similar to the ones lining the womb are found elsewhere in the body.
This can lead to inflammation, pain and the formation of scar tissue.
“It feels like there’s just searing, stinging, burning pain constantly. And that’s not even the worst of it,” she tells me.
She said symptoms started when she was about 12 years old and have worsened as the years have gone on.
For years she has had appointments, consultations and surgery on the NHS. But her experiences have left more than physical scars.
“I’ve been made to feel like I’m taking up their time. I’ve been made to feel like I’m not important and that my issues should just be medicated and that’s it.”
Read more:
The search for a cure for endometriosis
Jasmine waited a year and seven months for an operation, but only after surgery was cancelled six times.
“There was never really a good explanation as to why the surgery was cancelled. I’d just get called up by someone and told it wasn’t happening.”
Jasmine with her fiance Alex
7.5 million waiting for treatment
Jasmine is one of millions of patients waiting months, sometimes years, for NHS treatment.
The numbers have soared since the pandemic.
The number of people waiting for treatment on the NHS has doubled to 7.5 million and even though targets state that 92% of patients should begin treatment within 18 weeks, that target has not been met for nearly a decade.
This is why the NHS will be one of the big issues for voters in the general election.
Reducing NHS waiting times is the issue voters want the next government to prioritise, according to an exclusive Sky News poll, which found it’s the top issue for 39% of people asked – while 61% thought the NHS was in a “poor state”, with parts of it “broken”.
The same Sky News poll asked voters who they trust most to run the NHS. The majority – 32% – said Labour, while only 9% thought the Conservatives. However, a quarter of those polled didn’t think any party could be trusted with the NHS.
Labour said it will cut NHS waiting times with 40,000 more evening and weekend appointments each week, paid for by cracking down on tax avoidance and non-doms.
Meanwhile, the Conservatives and Lib Dems have also promised to cut waiting lists by pouring an extra £1bn into the NHS.
‘Life seems quite bleak now’
It currently takes an average of eight years and 10 months to get a diagnosis of endometriosis, according to the charity Endometriosis UK.
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, gynaecology waiting lists have increased by over 60%, the biggest increase in any specialism. In England alone, there are nearly 600,000 people on gynaecology waiting lists.
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An NHS spokesperson said: “The NHS takes endometriosis very seriously and it is essential that staff support women experiencing cyclical pain as well as the psychological effects associated with their symptoms.
“The health service is committed to meeting women’s individual healthcare needs and is rolling out dedicated pelvic health clinics – bringing together specialist healthcare staff – to provide further support for women living with endometriosis, as well as supporting all local areas to develop a women’s health hub, to help deliver better menstrual health services and improve women’s health outcomes.”
Jasmine is still waiting for her operation to ease her symptoms of endometriosis.
“It has taken a massive physical toll. But I suppose mentally maybe worse. Life seems quite bleak now. I used to have a lot of dreams wanting to travel the world. But I don’t have the energy for that anymore.”
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She says she hopes whoever wins the general election focuses more on the NHS.
“I’d like to believe that there was some sort of superhero to swoop in and save the NHS but I don’t feel in this current climate that that’s even remotely possible.
“I think the current government have run the NHS into the ground, but I don’t have much faith in any of the other parties to do much better.”
Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or suicidal can call Samaritans for help on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org in the UK. In the US, call the Samaritans branch in your area or 1 (800) 273-TALK.
Zack Polanski and Nigel Farage might be polar opposites when it comes to politics – but they do have one thing in common.
The pair are both cutting through in a changing media landscape when attention is scarce and trust in mainstream politics is scarcer still.
For Farage, the Reform UK leader, momentum has been building since he won a seat at the general election last year and he continues to top the polls.
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Badenoch doesn’t want to talk about Farage
But in the six weeks since Polanski became leader of the Greens, membership has doubled, they’ve polled higher than ever before while three Labour councillors have defected. Has the insurgent firebrand finally met his match?
“I’m sure I don’t need to say this, but I despise Nigel Farage’s politics and disagree with him on almost everything,” Polanski tells Sky News.
“But I think his storytelling has undoubtedly cut through and so yes there has been a huge part of us saying ‘If Farage can do that with a politics of hate and division, then it’s time for the Green Party to do that with a politics of hope and community’ and that’s absolutely what I intend to keep doing.”
Polanski was speaking after a news conference to announce the defections of the councillors in Swindon – a bellwether area that is currently led by a Labour council and has two Labour MPs, but was previously controlled by the Tories.
It is the sort of story the party would previously have announced in a press release, but the self-described “eco populist” is determined to do things differently to grab attention.
He has done media interviews daily over the past few weeks, launched his own podcast and turbocharged the Greens social media content – producing slick viral videos such as his visit to Handsworth (the Birmingham neighbourhood where Robert Jenrick claimed he saw no white people).
Zack Polanski announces the defection of Labour councillors
Polanski insists that it is not increased exposure in and of itself that is attracting people to his party but his messaging – he wants to “make hope normal again”.
“I’m not going to be in a wetsuit or be parachuting from a helicopter”, he says in a swipe at Lib Dem leader Ed Davey.
“I think you only need to do stunts if you don’t have something really clear to say and then you need to grab attention.
“I think when you look at the challenges facing this country right now if you talk about taxing wealth and not work, if you talk about the mass inequality in our society and you talk about your solidarity with people living in poverty, with working-class communities, I think these are the things that people both want to hear, but also they want to know our solutions. The good news is I’ve got loads of solutions and the party has loads of solutions. “
Some of those solutions have come under criticism – Reform UK have attacked his policy to legalise drugs and abolish private landlords.
Discontent is fuelling the rise of challenger parties. Pic: PA
Polanski is confident he can win the fight. He says it helps that he talks “quite quickly because it means that I’m able to be bold but also have nuance”. And he is a London Assembly member not an MP, so he has time to be the party’s cheerleader rather than being bogged down with case work.
As for what’s next, the 42-year-old has alluded to conversations with Labour MPs about defections. He has not revealed who they are but today gave an idea of who he would welcome – naming Starmer critic Richard Burgon.
Like Burgon, Polanski believes Starmer “will be gone by May” and that the local elections for Labour “will be disastrous”.
He wants to replace Labour “right across England and Wales” when voters go to the polls, something Reform UK has also vowed to do.
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Is Zack Polanski squeezing the Labour vote?
Could the Greens be kingmakers?
Luke Tryl, director of More in Common, says this reflects a “new axis of competition” as frontline British politics shifts from a battle of left vs right to a battle of process vs anti-establishment.
Farage has been the beneficiary of this battle so far but Tryl says Polanski is “coming up in focus groups” in a way his predecessors didn’t. “He is cutting through”, the pollster says.
However, one big challenge Polanski faces is whether his rise will cause the left vote to fragment and make it easier for Farage to win – something he has said he wants to avoid at all costs.
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And yet, asked if he would form a coalition with Labour to keep Farage out of power in the event of a hung parliament, he suggested he would only do so if Sir Keir Starmer is no longer prime minister.
“I have issues with Keir Starmer as prime minister,” he says. “I think he had the trust of the public, but I would say that’s been broken over and over again. If we had a different Labour prime minister that would be a different conversation about where their values are.”
He adds: “I do think stopping Nigel Farage has to be a huge mission for any progressive in this country, but the biggest way we can stop Nigel Farage is by people joining the Green Party right now; creating a real alternative to this Labour government, where we say we don’t have to compromise on our values.
“If people wanted to vote for Nigel Farage, they’d vote for Nigel Farage. What does Keir Starmer think he’s doing by offering politics that are similar but watered down? That’s not going to appeal to anyone, and I think that’s why they’re sinking in the polls.”
A former paratrooper accused of murdering two civilians in the Bloody Sunday shootings in Northern Ireland 53 years ago has been found not guilty.
Soldier F – who cannot be identified for legal reasons – was accused of killing James Wray and William McKinney during disorder after a civil rights parade on 30 January 1972 in Londonderry, also known as Derry.
The veteran was also found not guilty of five attempted murders at Belfast Crown Court on Thursday.
He had denied all seven charges.
Thirteen people were shot dead by the Parachute Regiment on the day in question.
Soldier F did not give evidence, but the court heard about previous statements from two paratroopers – known as G and H – who were in Glenfada Park North along with F.
The prosecution said their testimony was direct evidence that the defendant had opened fire in the area.
Bloody Sunday Trust undated handout photos of (top row, left to right) Patrick Doherty, Bernard McGuigan, John “Jackie” Duddy and Gerald Donaghey, (bottom row, left to right) Gerard McKinney, Jim Wray, William McKinney and John
However, the defence argued that they were unreliable witnesses as their statements were inconsistent with each other and with other witnesses who gave evidence.
The trial was held in Belfast in front of a judge, not a jury.
Delivering his judgment, Judge Patrick Lynch said the evidence presented against the veteran fell well short of what was needed for conviction.
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Two people have died and five others were taken to hospital following a fire in Glasgow.
Emergency crews were called to the blaze at a property in Hughenden Lane in Hyndland at about 10.20pm on Monday.
Police Scotland said a man and a woman were pronounced dead at the scene.
The force said their next of kin have been informed.
Five others were taken to hospital for the effects of smoke inhalation.
Read more from Sky News:
Paratrooper known as ‘Soldier F’ not guilty of Bloody Sunday murders
Three arrested on suspicion of assisting Russian spy agencies
A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “The fire is not believed to be suspicious, and no criminality has been established.”
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