A DISABLED woman with arthritis says she has waited months in agony after her medical files were sent to New Zealand.

Tina Brown of Worcester has hit out at NHS bureaucracy after hospital staff sent her medical audio notes to the other side of the world to be typed up.

Hospital bosses have apologised but say it is “highly unlikely” that their decision to send the notes overseas is the cause of the delay, instead blaming administrative delays in the UK.

Her GP at Spring Gardens Group Medical Practice in Worcester has now set up an urgent appointment for her at Evesham Community Hospital after he became concerned she had waited more than three months for treatment.

She is scheduled to attend a pain clinic there on Monday, November 3, but without medical staff having the benefit of her notes. Mrs Brown, aged 39, of Canterbury Road, Ronkswood, said she would have offered to type the notes herself if she had known it would take this long.

The notes are the responsibility of University Hospital in Walsgrave, where she was diagnosed with arthritis of the spine on Thursday, July 10.

She said: “It’s absolute madness that my notes have been sent halfway around the world. The pain is excruciating. I can’t bend properly because of the curvature of my spine and I have trouble sleeping. Sometimes I can’t walk because of the pain and there are times when I can’t even move. I would still be waiting if it wasn’t for my GP. I am gobsmacked that my notes have been sent halfway around the world to New Zealand.”

She is taking extra-strength painkillers because other, stronger forms of pain relief have side effects which make her ill.

Her GP has criticised in writing the “inordinate delay” in supplying her notes by the University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust which manages the hospital.

Mrs Brown, who has had a curvature of the spine since childhood, has also struggled to look after her four children because of the pain. Her husband Paul is also disabled because of back problems.

A spokesman for the University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust confirmed that the trust uses dictating services operated from New Zealand.

He added: “The trust apologies for any failings in document administration that may have contributed to a delay in treatment for one of our patients. However, it is most unlikely that this was the direct result of our outsourced contract that ensures that an audio brief produced by a medical specialist is converted into digital text within 48 hours. Our processes are continually under review and we will ensure that any lessons that may be learnt from this case will be captured and used to help shape improved service provision in the future.”