A 62-year-old sales assistant stuck on a two-year waiting list with pain so severe ‘it sometimes takes my breath away’. The couple in their 70s both barely able to walk, reliant on powerful codeine drugs and battling depression. And the businesswoman struggling with ‘irreversible’ spine damage after being fobbed off with physiotherapy when what she needed was scans and medication.
These are just a few of the harrowing stories from Mail on Sunday readers with back problems that have been so poorly treated on the NHS that they’re unable to carry on with their daily lives. Despite the severity of their conditions, they claim to have been ‘fobbed off’ and ‘forgotten about’ by medics.
Their frustration, anger and desperation highlight the abject failures in the NHS today in dealing with many chronic illnesses, experts have claimed. This month new figures revealed that there are a record 2.8 million Britons on long-term sick leave – with about half signed off for mental health problems. In response, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced controversial plans to strip GPs of their power to sign people off work, claiming that it was time to be ‘more honest about the risk of over-medicalising the everyday challenges and worries of life’.
However, there are almost three million people in the UK with back and neck pain, with nearly a million of those unable to work, according to the Office for National Statistics. Numbers of sufferers are increasing, exacerbated by rising obesity levels and more people working from inadequate make-shift offices at home.
Medical leaders warned that there were thousands stuck on waiting lists and that many had been forced to quit work and developed depression as a result. The welfare bill for people with back problems alone has tripled in two decades to £1.4 billion a year and is up by more than a quarter compared with before the pandemic, according to figures.
There are almost three million people in the UK with back and neck pain, with nearly a million of those unable to work, according to the Office for National Statistics (Stock Photo)
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced controversial plans to strip GPs of their power to sign people off work, claiming that it was time to be ‘more honest about the risk of over-medicalising the everyday challenges and worries of life’
The crisis is so severe that A&E departments are regularly seeing patients with back or neck pain because they had no other option, said Ishmael Beckford, the chair of council at the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy.
And in her regular column last weekend, The Mail on Sunday’s resident GP, Dr Ellie Cannon, argued that many of these cases of people off work with back pain were avoidable. She said that it was often easily dealt with, but that physiotherapy often wasn’t available and patients were ‘fobbed off with phone appointments and leaflets’.
Dr Cannon asked if any of her readers had suffered similar experiences – and we were inundated with emails and letters.
One 75-year-old said his back problem began in 2019 when removing a garden fence, and had high hopes when referred to a physiotherapist. ‘This turned out to be a question-and-answer session only. I was given a sheet of exercises which were mostly impossible because it meant getting up and down from the floor.
‘After Covid, I contacted my GP again, who gave me a phone appointment, another referral to a physiotherapist who gave me more computer printouts. I think NHS policy is: if you have back pain, Google it.’
Another reader in his 70s who has suffered from back pain for several years says that physiotherapy ‘is a waste of time’, adding: ‘All I get is a sheet of paper with exercises on. I’ve lost weight but have had to stop playing golf because of the pain. I get depressed not being able to do anything.’ He says his 77-year-old wife had an operation six years ago for compressed spinal nerves – to no avail. ‘It helped her hip pain but no one seems to care about her back. She can only walk 50 yards before the pain stops her, so she’s taking paracetamol and codeine tablets every day. Going private seems the only solution but I worry if we can afford it.’
Debra Fitzgerald, 62, knows what it is like living with back pain and the frustration of waiting for appointments while trying to juggle a job. Debra, who regularly attended Zumba classes until her condition forced her to quit in 2022, said: ‘My GP promised to refer me to a local back pain clinic, but seven months later I still hadn’t been given an appointment. During that time the pain got much worse.’
The former policewoman, who now works for Marks & Spencer, added: ‘I rang up the clinic and it turns out I wasn’t even on the waiting list. I was told I’d have to wait another 18 months to be seen. Sometimes I would wake up with a sharp pain in the lower back that was so bad it took my breath away. It was so painful at work I couldn’t even lift a tin of soup, and I was always apologising to colleagues. After another year without any NHS treatment, I managed to get eight sessions of private physiotherapy which were covered by my employer’s occupational health department.
A couple in their 70s said they were both barely able to walk, reliant on powerful codeine drugs and battling depression (Stock Photo)
The crisis is so severe that A&E departments are regularly seeing patients with back or neck pain because they had no other option, said Ishmael Beckford, the chair of council at the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy
‘Thankfully, the sessions have helped alleviate some of the pain and I’m slowly starting to get my life back. But I am still shocked at how bad the NHS service is for back pain.’
Charity The Health Foundation has revealed that 3.7 million people of working age plough on with their jobs despite having a ‘work-limiting’ condition. This means they are restricted in the amount and type of work they can do.
Hertfordshire GP Dr Mike Smith says that back pain is one of the most common reasons for patients visiting their doctor, yet agreed that those needing specialist help are stuck in a log jam. It is estimated that 7.6 million people are waiting for hospital treatment of all kinds.
‘Treating back pain isn’t done right across the NHS,’ he says. ‘It has such an impact on the workforce but every part of the pathway to treatment is clogged up. Waiting time in the NHS to see a specialist is the worst in 25 years.’
Professor Frances Williams, a chronic pain expert at King’s College London, agrees: ‘The NHS could be doing a lot better at this. Patients should be seen by back pain specialists who can spot a rare condition – such as inflammatory spine conditions. If caught early we can offer medication and stop things worsening, but without treatment, problems can become intractable.’
Chronic pain expert Professor Tamar Pincus, from Royal Holloway University, says that spinal surgery should be a last resort after physiotherapy has failed to help. ‘The truth is, operations don’t help in many cases and there can be complications that make things worse.’
She believes that amitriptyline, an antidepressant also given for pain relief, is also over-prescribed for back pain issues. ‘There is little evidence that it works and it slows you down and makes it harder to sleep, which makes returning to work difficult.’
Dr Smith’s practice in Knebworth has two resident physiotherapists that patients under 50 can self-refer to without seeing a doctor first. Those over 50 are seen by a GP initially as back pain in older age groups can sometimes be a symptom of a more serious illness.
Previously GPs had to refer patients to separate physiotherapy clinics or hospital services. However first contact physiotherapy, as the new service is known, is only offered by one in ten practices at present. As it is taken up by more GP surgeries, it will ‘declog the system so that those who actually need to see a hospital specialist are more likely to get that as there’ll be fewer people being referred unnecessarily,’ says Dr Smith. ‘Our patients are genuinely getting a better and quicker service with first contact physios.’
Ishmael Beckford, from The Chartered Society of Physiotherapy, said earlier this year that the figure of almost one million people signed off long-term sick with back or neck pain was ‘alarming’, adding: ‘We can see the impact untreated back pain is having on patients, the NHS and the wider economy with so many now out of work.
‘We urgently need more physiotherapy staff in the NHS and beyond.’
For Tim Davies, 59, this will come as little comfort. The keen golfer from Kent first began suffering from ‘extreme’ back pain in February.
‘I managed to get an appointment with an NHS physiotherapist who advised I get an urgent MRI scan,’ he says. ‘However, when I arrived at A&E, I was told I couldn’t have a scan and that I should just take painkillers.’
Tim decided to get a second opinion from a private doctor and a private MRI scan.
Professor Frances Williams, a chronic pain expert at King’s College London (pictured), agrees: ‘The NHS could be doing a lot better at this. Patients should be seen by back pain specialists who can spot a rare condition – such as inflammatory spine conditions’
Chronic pain expert Professor Tamar Pincus, from Royal Holloway University (pictured), says that spinal surgery should be a last resort after physiotherapy has failed to help
‘Within two hours of the scan, the doctor rang and told me to go back to A&E immediately because I had a slipped disc which was pressing on a spinal nerve which could be serious.
‘Once again, I returned to A&E where they promised to investigate. However, four hours later I was told to go home as I was going to be referred to another hospital. I’ve now been told this referral could take another 12 weeks.
‘I am still in pain and I’m worried that, without treatment, the problem could get worse. Why won’t the NHS help me?’
I got a spine scan far too late – now I’m in total agony
My back pain started in 2019 and I tried to push through it, but eventually went to my GP who sent me to a physio who gave me exercises. These did nothing. At no point was I sent for scans to establish what was wrong. How could the physiotherapist treat the condition without knowing the cause?
I run a cleaning business, but have found it hard to work. Last month I was finally offered a scan which showed I had bone problems in my spine. I’m seething with rage that I didn’t get a diagnosis earlier. My condition might not be so bad now if I’d had the correct treatment and advice years ago. I’m now in constant agony. It’s like being stabbed.
Bryony Dalgleish, Hampshire (pictured left)
I have had back pain on and off for the past four decades, but a few years ago I fell in the snow and the problem restarted.
I requested a GP appointment but instead all I got was a phone call with a physiotherapist who asked basic questions about my back and then sent me an email with some exercises to do. These did not help. A year later, with my back still in agony, I requested to see a back pain specialist.
I’ve managed to get an appointment but it won’t be until the end of this year. I am at a loss at what to do and can only hope that I find some help soon.
Bala Balenthiran, location withheld
Excruciating back pain is ruining my life. I’ve been living with it for two years, and nothing seems to work.
My back pain started in 2019 and I tried to push through it, but eventually went to my GP who sent me to a physio who gave me exercises, says Bryony Dalgleish (pictured)
I’ve been diagnosed with spinal osteoarthritis and had steroid injections, but this only helps with the pain for a short time. I force myself to go for a short walk every day, but I can’t be up and about like I used to be.
I struggle to do much housework and I have to take strong painkillers to get through the day.
Judy Grey, Kent
I’ve suffered with a bad back for seven years. I was sent to a physiotherapist but these sessions didn’t do anything to improve my symptoms and I was eventually discharged.
I insisted that my GP do something to help, so I was sent to a spine specialist who told me there was nothing they could do for me. I was then passed on to a pain management clinic where I was told the best thing might be to go along to meetings with other people like myself and discuss my pain.
This felt like a joke – how would talking about pain with a group of people help?
I believe if I went private then I might see some improvement, but I can’t afford to do this.
Helen Johnson, location withheld
I’ve struggled with back pain for three years. It wakes me up virtually every night and leaves me feeling exhausted. I’ve seen my GP about it multiple times, but each time I’m referred to the same NHS physio who gives me exercises which don’t do anything. At no point has he examined my back.
Mark Webber, location withheld
I developed severe back pain last year. In October I was able to get an MRI scan done on the NHS which showed that I had four herniated discs and two trapped nerves.
However, nearly half a year later I am still waiting to get an appointment with a spinal consultant. I am in constant pain. This has completely taken over my life.
Sheila Simpson, Staffordshire
I have suffered with back pain for nearly 40 years, and in all that time I’ve never been offered a scan.
It constantly feels like my back has been kicked hard. The sensation travels down through my legs sometimes, but all the doctors I have seen have just offered me painkillers.
However, in recent years these have got less effective and now I have to rely on heat pads every evening to help calm the pain.
My GP has sent me to the local NHS physio, but this has had little effect.
Physios don’t offer hands-on treatment any more, which I feel I could benefit from.
I feel like I have been fobbed off for years.
Marion Warden, Glasgow
