Mother left to pay for private operation that costs £5,500
A woman whose face was battered by her boyfriend has been refused NHS funding for an operation to repair the damage.
Rebecca Beattie, 25, says she is struggling to breathe through her nose because of her injuries and has been told she needs corrective and cosmetic surgery.
But she has been denied treatment by the Health Service and is now trying to raise £5,500 for a private operation.
Rebecca Beattie, who was left barely able to breathe after being viciously beaten by her ex-boyfriend, has been refused NHS funding for surgery to repair her battered nose
Ms Beattie's ex-boyfriend, Bradley Scot Want (pictured), was jailed for 16 months following the attack. She now needs corrective surgery but has been turned down for funding by the NHS
Miss Beattie, who has a son of four, suffered horrific injuries when Bradley Want attacked her at their home last April. She was left with splayed nasal bones, fractures and a grossly deviated septum.
Want, 24, was jailed for 16 months last September after admitting charges of assault and actual bodily harm
After the case at York Crown Court, Miss Beattie said: ‘I will never forget what went through my mind that night, it was one of the worst feelings I’ve had, and ever will have.
‘I thought “He’s going to kill me, I’m never going to see my son again” – a feeling no parent should have to experience.’
Pictured before the attack: Rebecca Beattie
Miss Beattie, who does voluntary work for a domestic abuse charity, is furious the local NHS trust panel turned her down and her Labour MP Hugh Bayley has taken up the case.
She said she cannot breathe through her right nostril and can barely breathe through the left, making sleep difficult.
‘It’s really difficult for me to breathe out of my nose. It’s a nightmare if I get a cold because I struggle to blow my nose,’ she said.
‘The surgery I need is corrective and cosmetic to try to fix it both inside and outside. I feel the NHS’s decision is shocking – it wasn’t my fault I received these injuries.
‘It’s not just the physical damage. Every time I look in the mirror, I have a constant reminder of what I had to endure.
'I want to move on and this is the last thing holding me back.’
She cited the case of glamour model Josie Cunningham, 22, who had her breasts enlarged on the NHS at a cost of £4,800 after persuading doctors her flat chest was ruining her life and causing her emotional distress.
Last month it emerged that an aspiring glamour model had her breasts enlarged to size 36DD on the NHS. The surgery to 22-year-old Josie Cunningham, to take her from an A cup (right) cost taxpayers £4,800
Hugh Bayley MP has been helping Ms Beattie with her battle for NHS funding
The operation on the unmarried mother-of-two was approved by a primary care trust in Leeds – 20 miles from Miss Beattie’s home in York.
Under NHS guidelines, cosmetic surgery should be funded only in rare circumstances ‘to protect a person’s health’.
Miss Beattie said: ‘They say I’m not an exception. I don’t meet the criteria, but apparently breasts do if you want to make money from glamour modelling. The surgeon couldn’t believe I have not got it.’
Miss Beattie applied for funding a few months ago and has had four rejection letters.
She is taking legal advice and has gone public to highlight the postcode lottery over NHS operations.
A GP-led Vale of York clinical commissioning group replaced the NHS North Yorkshire and York Primary Care Trust this month – and inherited its £19million financial deficit. The trust was criticised by doctors last year for spending £3.2million on home medical monitors that were barely used.
A spokesman for Vale of York CCG said it was working to understand the details of Miss Beattie’s case. The rejection letters said her condition was a low priority operation that was not ‘routinely commissioned unless exceptional clinical needs can be demonstrated’.
Mr Bayley said he had lobbied for extra funding from the Health Secretary and had raised the case personally with the trust.
- Rebecca Beattie, 25, was viciously beaten by Bradley Scot Want in April 2012
- Suffered severely deviated septum, splayed nasal bones and fractures
- Told she 'doesn't meet criteria' for £5,500 repair work
A woman whose face was battered by her boyfriend has been refused NHS funding for an operation to repair the damage.
Rebecca Beattie, 25, says she is struggling to breathe through her nose because of her injuries and has been told she needs corrective and cosmetic surgery.
But she has been denied treatment by the Health Service and is now trying to raise £5,500 for a private operation.
Rebecca Beattie, who was left barely able to breathe after being viciously beaten by her ex-boyfriend, has been refused NHS funding for surgery to repair her battered nose
Ms Beattie's ex-boyfriend, Bradley Scot Want (pictured), was jailed for 16 months following the attack. She now needs corrective surgery but has been turned down for funding by the NHS
Miss Beattie, who has a son of four, suffered horrific injuries when Bradley Want attacked her at their home last April. She was left with splayed nasal bones, fractures and a grossly deviated septum.
Want, 24, was jailed for 16 months last September after admitting charges of assault and actual bodily harm
After the case at York Crown Court, Miss Beattie said: ‘I will never forget what went through my mind that night, it was one of the worst feelings I’ve had, and ever will have.
‘I thought “He’s going to kill me, I’m never going to see my son again” – a feeling no parent should have to experience.’
Pictured before the attack: Rebecca BeattieMiss Beattie, who does voluntary work for a domestic abuse charity, is furious the local NHS trust panel turned her down and her Labour MP Hugh Bayley has taken up the case.
She said she cannot breathe through her right nostril and can barely breathe through the left, making sleep difficult.
‘It’s really difficult for me to breathe out of my nose. It’s a nightmare if I get a cold because I struggle to blow my nose,’ she said.
‘The surgery I need is corrective and cosmetic to try to fix it both inside and outside. I feel the NHS’s decision is shocking – it wasn’t my fault I received these injuries.
‘It’s not just the physical damage. Every time I look in the mirror, I have a constant reminder of what I had to endure.
'I want to move on and this is the last thing holding me back.’
She cited the case of glamour model Josie Cunningham, 22, who had her breasts enlarged on the NHS at a cost of £4,800 after persuading doctors her flat chest was ruining her life and causing her emotional distress.
Last month it emerged that an aspiring glamour model had her breasts enlarged to size 36DD on the NHS. The surgery to 22-year-old Josie Cunningham, to take her from an A cup (right) cost taxpayers £4,800
Hugh Bayley MP has been helping Ms Beattie with her battle for NHS fundingThe operation on the unmarried mother-of-two was approved by a primary care trust in Leeds – 20 miles from Miss Beattie’s home in York.
Under NHS guidelines, cosmetic surgery should be funded only in rare circumstances ‘to protect a person’s health’.
Miss Beattie said: ‘They say I’m not an exception. I don’t meet the criteria, but apparently breasts do if you want to make money from glamour modelling. The surgeon couldn’t believe I have not got it.’
Miss Beattie applied for funding a few months ago and has had four rejection letters.
She is taking legal advice and has gone public to highlight the postcode lottery over NHS operations.
A GP-led Vale of York clinical commissioning group replaced the NHS North Yorkshire and York Primary Care Trust this month – and inherited its £19million financial deficit. The trust was criticised by doctors last year for spending £3.2million on home medical monitors that were barely used.
A spokesman for Vale of York CCG said it was working to understand the details of Miss Beattie’s case. The rejection letters said her condition was a low priority operation that was not ‘routinely commissioned unless exceptional clinical needs can be demonstrated’.
Mr Bayley said he had lobbied for extra funding from the Health Secretary and had raised the case personally with the trust.