The mother of an eight-month-old girl with a severe form of eczema has described the "torture" her baby daughter is forced to endure each day. Aimee Bedwell, 25, said her daughter Riley is covered head-to-toe in the skin condition which is so raw in places that it "looks like she's been burnt".
Despite being given an urgent referral by their GP to see a specialist dermatologist in hospital, Aimee has been told it could take months, if not years, for Riley to be seen through the Welsh NHS due to the huge waiting lists. The family believes they have no option but to try and get the tot an appointment privately.
"Her eczema was a lot milder when she was first born, but as time has gone on it has become worse and worse - and for the past three months it has been horrific," explained Aimee, from Cilgerran, Pembrokeshire. "She looks like she's been burnt with boiling water - her skin is red raw. It's on her head, face, shoulders, torso, legs - everywhere.
"It's just incredibly painful for her. It constantly gets infected and changing her can be horrendous as her clothes just stick to her. It also keeps her up at night. She hasn't slept well for months because she wakes up itching - and then that keeps me awake. It's like torture and it's affecting our whole life."
Aimee said the family have tried everything to reduce Riley's skin problems, including getting rid of all cleaning products, sprays and even trying homeopathic approaches. However, none have worked. She added that she has lost count of the amount of times she's visited her GP surgery in a desperate plea for help.
"It's incredible the amount of times I've sat in the doctor's car park crying because they've just sent me off with more cream. I appreciate what the GPs do, and they're helping to the best of their knowledge, but because of the pressure the NHS is under the waiting lists are ridiculous and we're just not getting seen. This poor baby is sat here in pain with nothing else more they can do for her."
Aimee, who has also taken Riley to A&E and a minor injuries unit in the hope a breakthrough will be found, said she and her husband Bradley are now playing a waiting game. They're also concerned about whether Riley will want to roll or crawl in the coming months as her skin is so sore. "I know there are people worse off than her, but something needs to be done about these waiting times as it's just so unfair," she added.
"The health board can't even give me a rough estimate for how long we'll be waiting, even though her case has been classed as urgent and just one step down from skin cancer in terms of priority. There's no end in sight which is heartbreaking."
Aimee said their only option now is to try and raise the money they need to see a private consultant paediatric dermatologist based in Bristol. To donate please go here. "It's shocking we are forced to pay privately for a service that should be free to us. But she physically cannot be left to suffer like this any longer," Aimee added.
According to Welsh Government figures, one in five Welsh people are on a list awaiting NHS treatment. In February, 691,885 were on patient pathways – more than 140,000 more than the same time last year.
There were 33,474 people on the NHS waiting list for dermatology treatments, around a third (9,827) of which had been on there for 36 weeks or more. This number has risen dramatically since the decision was made to halt all non-urgent appointments and procedures in March 2020 at the start of the pandemic, and ever since elective care has never fully recovered.
In April the government released its plan to tackle the waiting list backlog which included a pledge to eliminate one-year waits for treatment in most specialties by spring 2025. Health Minister Eluned Morgan said 'Super Saturdays' would be introduced to boost productivity over weekends, adding that incentives would be offered to NHS staff to encourage them to work longer hours. You can read more about that here.
Despite everything Riley has gone through, Aimee concluded that her daughter still goes around with a smile on her face most of the time. "She's just a happy little soul even though she's so uncomfortable. When she touches her skin she winces and cries, but other than that she's the bubbliest little baby you could meet. How she can crack a smile through it I'll never know," she added. To keep up to date with the biggest issues affecting Wales, subscribe to our Wales Matters newsletter here.
