Every week, Jackie Elliott watches as her mum’s world grows smaller and smaller.
The Kāpiti Coast district councillor’s 78-year-old mother, whose name has been withheld at her request, has been waiting for a hip replacement for 18 months. She has been in constant, debilitating pain.
Upon hearing elective surgeries at Wellington Regional Hospital had been temporarily stopped for four weeks due to struggles with meeting demand, she burst into tears.
“I think about what she could manage last week and I don’t want to think about what we have to cross off the list next week,” Elliott said. “Now her world is basically her couch, getting up for the bathroom.”
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