These are worrying times where the NHS is concerned. Sorry about the understatement.

The story of Katie Lay seems to take things to a whole new level of concern. 

Katie is a 17-year-old girl who has suffered no fewer than 98 suspected epileptic seizures in the past eight weeks… 29 in the last week, in fact.

Now you’d think someone with these sorts of issues would be able to get a priority appointment with a specialist pretty quickly. Not so. Her appointment with a specialist neurologist is scheduled for the middle of February next year.

This strikes me as completely unacceptable. We took the decision to hold off on this story to give the authorities more than adequate time to respond.

Well, since then the hospital has geared up Katie to see a consultant who specialises in epilepsy in about five weeks’ time…but the specialist neurologist appointment remains in February.

Katie may suffer literally hundreds more seizures by the time she sees the specialist doctor, and who knows how long it’ll take to get results back? Who is taking priority appointments in the months before her? If not to us then I think the hospital needs to explain to Katie’s incredibly worried family.

OK, we all know about the NHS cuts or efficiencies depending on your view point, but regardless of this I can’t understand how a young girl with these sorts of problems is being made to wait so long for the help she desperately needs.