NHS lottery wife’s blaze horror

7:18am Tuesday 15th January 2008

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A DEAF grandmother said she could have been burned to death in a house fire after she was refused implants on the NHS which would have helped her to hear the smoke alarm.

Jean Jessop was in bed with flu and could not hear the smoke alarm when it went off at her home in Brewery Walk, Barbourne, Worcester. When firefighters entered her home she exclaimed: "What are you doing here?"

The first thing she knew of the fire in the groundfloor utility room of her four-floor townhouse was when firefighters entered after being alerted by a neighbour who heard the smoke alarm going off.

Mrs Jessop, aged 77, is furious that Worcestershire Primary Care Trust has so far refused her the cochlear implants - small, complex electronic devices that can help to provide a sense of sound - that would have helped her hear the alarm and says she would have been able to have the operation on the NHS if she lived in Birmingham or Hereford.

Her husband and grandson were out shopping during the fire on Friday so there was no one else in the house to raise the alarm.

Mrs Jessop, who has been deaf since 1975 and became completely deaf over the last decade, said: "If it had been a more serious fire I would have been burned to a crisp."

Mrs Jessop received a letter from Worcestershire Primary Care Trust last November telling her cochlear implants would only be made available on the NHS to those under 18.

The former headteacher, who has been supported in her fight by Worcester MP Mike Foster, said "It could be considered to be ageism. It's certainly a postcode lottery. It's disgraceful.

"My husband and I have paid our taxes all our lives. This is the first time I have needed anything and I get refused. These implants would transform my life and that of my husband."

A spokesman for Worcestershire Primary Care Trust said: "We are not able to comment on individual patients because of patient confidentiality. We have a set criteria for eligibility of cochlear implants and we have been concentrating on children's services. But from the April 1 we will be assessing eligibility for adults."