A seriously ill patient at Craigavon Area Hospital has made a public appeal from her hospital bed for Northern Ireland’s health service to be given more resources.
Colette Terris, 62, from County Armagh, called for politicians to unite to help ease problems as the health system continues to come under pressure.
Ms Terris has an incurable form of cancer.
Complications recently led to her lower body being paralysed.
She said the full extent of her condition could have been diagnosed earlier but there was a delay in an magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan being carried out over the Christmas period.
The Southern Health Trust has acknowledged that there are some days when scanning is not available in Craigavon and has apologised for added distress that can cause patients.
Although Ms Terris believed there should have been better scanning provision she praised the doctors and nurses who have been involved in her treatment.
“I have nothing but utter admiration for the nurses and the doctors,” she said.
“They have looked after me, they have fed me, they have changed my nappies. That’s not an easy thing to talk about.”
Colette Terris and her daughter EmerImage source, Terris family
Image caption,
Colette Terris – pictured with her daughter Emer – has paralysis of her lower body
Speaking from her hospital bed, in an interview conducted online, Ms Terris explained why she had contacted BBC News NI to share her story.
“I have a serious condition and I am not likely to be around for a long time,” she said.
“These things are not impossible to fix. Get your fingers out and change something for the higher good of the vast majority of people.
“The people that I elected, I want them to do business and I want them to get on with it.
“Let’s face it, if the health service was privatised I wouldn’t be getting treatment – we wouldn’t be having this conversation because I’d be dead.”
Asked about the recent strike by nurses, she said she supported the industrial action and would be on the picket line herself if she could get out of bed.
