A woman with a long-term spinal injury has said she would "crawl on all fours to Dublin" after spending years on a waiting list for treatment – despite living with severe chronic pain.

In 2004, Frances Thompson suffered a serious spinal injury after falling off a wall and breaking her back in four places.

She spent three years in a nursing home to get her pain and seizures under control – but now in 2023, the 62-year-old’s condition is no better.

“The way I feel at the moment, I have nowhere to turn,” she told Lunchtime Live. 

“I’m suffering chronic pain... I was at a pain management department, and nothing was working.” 

After spending three years on a waitlist for treatment, Ms Thompson was contacted by the HSE's National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF), which helps patients get off waiting lists, and sent to a private hospital in Cork.

“They accepted me, and I was delighted to see the end of the tunnel,” she said. 

“But a week to the day [later], I got a letter from the private hospital stating I was a ‘complicated case’ and they were sending me back to my original waiting list. 

“The problem is, with spinal cord injuries, really, the only place is Dublin – that's where the specialists are.

“Outside Dublin, they try their best, but after all the physio and the whole lot, we’re left in limbo.” 

'I'm on my own'

Stuck on the waiting list, Ms Thompson spends most of her time in bed due to the pain she suffers. 

“I’m on my own,” she said. “I’m not even existing – you wouldn’t call [my life] existing. 

“I'm tired and I've lost weight and everything, and I can see my mental health being affected by it – it's bound to be because it’s like you're banging your head on the wall because you’re not getting anywhere.

“I'm trying my best on my phone – my laptop is broken, it’s so old - to look up Gov.ie, but I just throw the phone aside because I can’t cope with the pain and concentrate,” she said. 

'Crawl on all fours to Dublin'

Ms Thompson now fears the next letter she gets will tell her she’s “too old” to get any sort of spinal treatment at all. 

“If I had to crawl on all fours to Dublin, I would do it because I would meet someone who is specialised in this area and would be able to give me an answer,” she said. 

“I would be able to ask about spinal fusion, which takes away the pain in a lot of cases, or even to get my leg cut off. 

“I’m 62, and I’ve been waiting since my 50s - that’s loads of years wasted, my life has been wasted.” 

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