A SEVERELY disabled woman who has had to wait months for vital pain-killing injections has finally got an appointment.

Mavis Reeve, who has brittle bones and an inflamed spine has spent the last five months living in pain waiting for treatment.

Her GP referred her to a consultant in March but when Mavis, 66, and her husband Bob, 77, contacted Queen's Park Hospital, Blackburn, around six weeks after the referral, they were told she was 323rd on the waiting list.

But yesterday, she at last received a letter telling her she has an appointment at the hospital's pain management clinic on September 23.

Mavis said: "I'm pleased something's finally going to happen. The last few months have been terrible. The pain is sometimes so bad I can't even concentrate to read and I keep waking up in the night. I used to be active and garden but I just can't lift my arms up anymore."

Bob, of Shadsworth Road, Blackburn, said: "On one hand we're absolutely delighted but it's taken far too long to get the appointment."

Mavis' plight was revealed in the Lancashire Evening Telegraph three months ago. The pain management clinic at Queen's Park has been short-staffed since February after a consultant left to take another job.

Health bosses have carried out a review of services at the clinic but so far the post has yet to be filled.

Mavis has not been able to work for 20 years and during the last two years the pain from her condition has got considerably worse. Her GP is able to give her cortisone injections but not a jab in her spine, which she really needs and only the pain clinic can offer.

She said: "The cortisone injections worked for a while but I really need more to ease the pain."

East Lancashire Hospitals Trust has admitted it has had problems since the pain consultant left.

They are undertaking a review of the service, involving GPs, and meanwhile another consultant at the hospital was having additional sessions to help shorten waiting time.