Cardiff and Vale University Health Board (Cardiff & Vale UHB) have apologised to dystonia patients for a delay in their treatments.
People living with dystonia experience uncontrollable muscle spasms and need regular Botox injections every twelve weeks to relieve the pain.
In a statement, Cardiff & Vale UHB said increased demand and staff shortages meant it had been challenging to run the Botox services at University Hospital of Wales (UHW).
The Dystonia Society say they’ve been made aware of the problem, with patients calling their helpline. According to the society, dystonia affects 70,000 people in the UK, and around 5,000 people in Wales.
UHW is the only clinic for injections in South East Wales.
Dr Gareth Payne used to work in the dystonia clinic. He said a possible solution to the problem could be training more staff: “I think there’s going to need to look at alternative people who could inject, so you can have more injectors taking the clinic.”
“The best way to invest in that could be to train up some nurses. If you had a series of nurses injecting, they could have a bit more time with the patients, then we could see a greater number of patients.”
Cardiff & Vale UHB said they’ve already introduced additional clinics on Thursday evenings and Friday afternoons.
The board have also said they are exploring the possibility of training more staff to meet growing demand for dystonia treatments, with the hope of returning to a normal service in the near future.
