STEPHEN KERR would like to be on a hospital waiting list. Mr Kerr (62), of Tallaght, Co Dublin, experiences great pain in his left hip, which makes him reluctant to leave his home. However, doctors have told him be is not "bad" enough to be put on a waiting list.
He first asked about getting a hip replacement over three years ago but is still not considered a worthy enough case.
Mr Kerr said: "When I walk about 200 yards my left hip starts to hurt very badly. It has been like that for a few years. It has got to the stage where I am reluctant to go out. I do go to Mass but it gives me great trouble on the way there and on the way home.
"The pain is in the bone, really. When I move my leg and put weight on it I can really feel it. It is not pleasant. I wonder how bad you have to be before they will do something?"
He first mentioned the discomfort while in hospital after a stroke which affected his right side. He asked doctors in St James's Hospital to examine the hip.
"Luckily the stroke was down my right side, so it was not as severe as it could have been. But the left hip is now a damn nuisance. They refused to give me a new hip. I found it much easier when I had a car to get around, but the doctor advised me after the stroke, that I shouldn't drive any more.
Over a year and a half ago Mr Kerr asked doctors to examine his hip again but got the same response: "I told them I felt rotten with it and had trouble getting about, but it did not seem to make any difference. I can't help but think that if I went in as a private patient they would have no problem giving me a hip replacement."
His wife, Mrs Ann Kerr, suffers badly from emphysema. He used to work as a sales representative for a building firm.
Mr Kerr said: "I was cut short in my job because of the stroke and all the things we had planned for retirement have gone out the window. Luckily we own the house and our three kids are great to us."
Mr Kerr hopes that he will eventually be put on a waiting list but wonders how long he would be waiting even after that.
He adds: "I suppose there are thousands like me around the country. Maybe I should be doing more about it. It certainly does not look like there is going to be any short term solution.