A mum suffering from severe and constant pain can't get the specialist medical help she desperately needs because her hospital is too clogged.
Pauline Wales, 74, lives with Dystonia - a neurological condition which sparks uncontrollable violent muscle spasms triggered by incorrect signals from the brain.
Her concerned husband Colin calls 999 on a regular basis, but a solution seems no nearer, HullLive report.
The couple from Hull, Yorkshire, are in 'limbo' waiting for the chance of life-changing treatment.
Hull Royal Infirmary, who apologised to any patient affected by the delays, say they are too full to treat her incurable neurological condition yet.
They confirmed it is experiencing significant pressure due to the ongoing impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Colin, 77, said: "Pauline has something called Dystonia which means that she has involuntary muscle spasms which can be really violent.
"There is no cure for Dystonia so this is something that we've had to live with but there are specialist departments who can help with treatment.
"We've had consultations with specialists but the drugs that they have prescribed don't seem to be helping at all, if anything she is getting worse.
"At the moment it just builds up to a point where I'm having to call 999 because things have become so severe, they take her in to a general ward and calm things down but we can't get the proper treatment.
"We're just in limbo at the moment, she's been in for four weeks waiting for some news but the staff at Scunthorpe keep telling us that Hull Royal is full and hasn't got room for her."
Her husband accepts staff are not to blame for the problems.
Colin said: "It is distressing, to see her in so much pain is really difficult and to not be able to get the treatment which we think would help is frustrating.
"This isn't a blame game though, it is a really bad time to be a patient in hospital at the moment with coronavirus and other pressures.
"I don't blame the doctors or the staff, they're working with what they can do and unfortunately for us that means nothing.
"We've made the decision to discharge now because she is stuck on a general ward, not getting treatment to get better. You don't realise what is is like to be on an NHS bed for weeks until you've done it.
"I have to take into consideration her mental health as well so we're going home for the time being but unfortunately I'm sure it won't be long until we're back."
A Hull Royal spokeswoman said: "Hospitals across the region are experiencing significant pressure across all their services.
"Such pressures are felt more acutely in specialist services such as neurology, where recruitment difficulties have been an issue for some time and waiting lists have grown as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
"In light of similar challenges, the neurology teams at both hospital trusts have recently joined together to provide a single service covering the Humber region, named ‘Humber Neurology Services’.
"Under this service, patients with complex neurological conditions will ordinarily be treated in Hull under the care of a consultant neurologist, however planned admissions to the hospital are based on several factors including the nature of the patient’s illness and bed availability on the specialist neurology ward.
"The service works on the basis of clinical priority, and patients will be admitted at the earliest possible opportunity as beds become available.
"However, there may be times when, regrettably, it is not possible to admit an appropriate patient to the specialist ward straight away.
"The service would like to apologise to any patient affected by delays due to current hospital pressures, and is committed to providing the best possible care within the resources available."
