New shoes

Laura's feet have been turning under more and she seems to be stumbling more too. She was born with positional talipes and so her feet have always been slightly inclined to turn under and her hypotonia and ataxia just compounds the problem.

I looked at her special boots which she gets from the orthotics dept at the local hospital, and decided she had probably outgrown them. So a few weeks ago I rang the orthotic dept to get another appointment. No appointment had come through so I rang again on Thursday only to be told the waiting list was 13 weeks!!!! I was really angry, how can they make children with existing foot problems wait 13 weeks for an appointment to get new shoes? Can you imagine gong to Clarks shoe shop to be told yes your child needed new shoes but they'd have to wait for 13 weeks!!! They recommend you come back every few weeks to have your child re-measured. At the orthotics dept it's up to you to decide when your child needs new shoes and then there is walwyas a long wait. We've been doing this for 6 years so maybe I should have anticipated that but they won't put you on the waiting list until the child has had the shoes for at least 6 months and you have to say why you think they need replacing.

After a long and heated disussion, I told them I was going to make a formal complaint about the service (or lack of) provided. They asked if I wanted to go on the cancellation list, which was a stupid question given everything I'd said!

Anyway, half an hour later they rang to say there'd been a cancellation (Mmmm!) and could I come tomorrow (Friday) at 9 o'clock! So of course we went, but how many other kids are waiting for 13 weeks crippled by their special boots??

So we went to the appt yesterday only to find (surprise surprise!) that Laura's feet had grown two shoes sizes, she no longer needed the insoles that were throwing her feet the wrong way and now needed adaptations to the soles to allign her feet properly! Grrrrrr!!!!! I can't believe they wanted us to wait another 10 weeks - how much worse would her feet have got.

I will make that complaint as this is such a crap service for kids who already have mobility problems.

OK rant over, that feels better!