A FIFE woman already waiting 14 weeks for a hospital appointment after a seizure has been told there are 180 people still in front of her.

The patient, who wanted to remain anonymous, described the "awful" wait as she worries how long it will take to be seen.

"I had been seizure-free for around five years and then I had one in September, which came completely out of the blue," she said. "I was referred to a neurologist to find out if something was going on and was told to wait up to 12 weeks for an appointment to be sent out. When nothing came I waited until it reached 14 weeks and phoned up and asked how long it was going to go on. They told me there were 180 people in front of me in the queue.

"I was absolutely furious but I also knew there were people on that list worse off than me. Neurology covers a wide range of things, it's not just seizures. There could be people with brain damage from accidents, or people with MS."

Because of the seizure, she has to wait a year before being allowed to drive again but is worried that the longer she has to wait, the less chance there is of getting her licence back straightaway.

"I have to take taxis or buses to work or depend on someone else because I can't get in my car," she said. "It has an impact on every part of my life. I'm just lucky my work have been brilliant in helping to organise a different way of working.

"When you have a seizure, your GP informs the DVLA and you're not allowed to drive. If you don't have a seizure in a year, you get your licence back but they need to write to the neurologist first for confirmation. But if the neurologist hasn't seen me by then, I can't get it back.

"The wait is just awful. I know they can't always fit everyone into the 12 weeks and I understand that, but to know there's 180 people in front of me is hard to swallow.

"I don't know how many people they can get through in one clinic. But there's nothing else I can do, I'm in limbo."

Liberal Democrat group leader on Fife Council, Tim Brett, has raised concerns about the length of time patients are having to wait for an outpatient appointment.

"I took the matter up with NHS Fife who advised that, while there was no issue with most outpatient appointments, there was a problem particularly with neurology," he said. "On then checking the NHS Fife website I noticed that outpatient waiting time problems had been highlighted in the most recent report to the NHS Fife board, as in November only 87 per cent were being seen within the target and this had been the case for six months, contrary to the target recovery trajectory included in the paper.

"When someone is referred for a consultant appointment they are naturally anxious, possibly in pain or discomfort, do not know what is the matter with them and may not be receiving the best treatment, so the sooner they can see a specialist, the better."

NHS Fife chief operating officer for acute services, Professor Scott McLean, said: "As Cllr Brett was informed when he enquired, NHS Fife has made a dramatic improvement in the number of patients waiting in excess of 12 weeks for an outpatient appointment.

“This number was over 3,100 in the summer of 2015 and will be less than 500 by March 2016.

"In common with many NHS boards across Scotland, NHS Fife does have a significant gap between demand and capacity in neurology. We are exploring options to resolve this.

"For obvious reasons of confidentiality, we are unable to comment on the specifics of a particular patient."