EVA Arrighi has already been waiting seven months for a hip replacement - but she still has no idea when the operation will go ahead.

The mother-of-three, from Glasgow, can no longer walk without crutches as a result of osteoarthritis and says the pain and immobility is impacting on her health, work and family life with children Henry, 10, January, eight, and six-year-old Hector.

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She said: "I live on the top floor of a four floor block of flats, and it takes me 10 minutes to get down the stairs in the morning and 10 minutes to get back up.

"I'm having to do less and less, and be less and less mobile, because it's so painful.

"My blood pressure has gone up. I never had problems with high blood pressure, now it's having to be monitored by my GP.

"I've never been a sedentary person - in my job I move on average 10km a day. To move from that to this has to have had implications for my blood pressure.

"You worry 'am I going to get diabetes because I'm not moving?'. But you just can't do the exercise to get your blood pumping around our body to be in optimum health.

"It's just so demoralising."

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Ms Arrighi, 47, said the stiffness and pain in her hip had been getting steadily worse and around two years ago doctors told her that a replacement would be necessary.

The Herald:

In August 2018, after X-rays showed the cartilage in joint had all but disappeared, she was placed on the waiting list for surgery at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow.

Ms Arrighi, who is the Herald's fashion editor, said: "It's put on you to decide how bad you are and when you need it.

"I asked them 'when is the time to ask for it', and they said 'when you can't turn over in bed because of the pain'.

"I had tried so many other things and it had just got so bad that I thought, 'I have to have it now'.

"It had been getting steadily worse. It's gone from me being able to walk with pain on painkillers, to having to use a stick - which affects my role because I'm supposed to be able to carry things, so assistants were brought in to help me.

"It's a job that involves a huge amount of walking, and I'd find that I'd be really exhausted when I got home and in a lot of pain."

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The operation was originally scheduled to take place in December, and arrangements were made to provide sick leave cover while she recuperated.

However, with just two weeks to go, Ms Arrighi was contacted by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and told that her procedure was being cancelled.

"There was no explanation as to why," she said. "Just 'it's not going to happen in time, the waiting list is longer than we originally anticipated, we'll be in touch'."

Nearly four months on from the phonecall, Ms Arrighi says she has yet to be given a rescheduled date and is worried about how much her condition could deteriorate before she is finally treated.

"I still don't know when it's happening," she said. Perversely, I've actually had less to do with the NHS now than before - at least before I was seeing the consultant once every six months to see if there had been any changes and degeneration, and there had.

"I haven't seen my consultant since August. It's as if you go on a waiting list and it's like 'bye bye'.

"You get all these patient charter leaflets telling you it's a '12 week guarantee', or it's '18 weeks minimum', but it doesn't feel like they're worth the paper they're written on.

"If I had known it was going to take this long, I wouldn't leave it until it was in this acute position. If this is the wait list, people shouldn't be leaving it until they can't turn over in bed before getting put on the waiting list.

"They should do it when they're first told 'you're going to need this', because you have to factor in the deterioration time.

"I'm a dyed in the wool socialist from Govan, and I've always been really proud of the NHS. But I have to admit this experience has made me think about getting private health insurance for my family, because I've been so frustrated."