A Perth woman has accused NHS Tayside of leaving her mother trapped in her home after being left without a hearing aid for weeks.

Heather Cameron has hit out at the health board, after her mum Margaret Cameron (68) was forced to wait almost three weeks for an audiology appointment to be fitted with hearing aids.

Despite finally getting an appointment this week, she still faces a further unspecified wait before she can hear again.

According to her daughter, Margaret has been left unable to even hear her phone ringing, and is now unable to go out into the town or walk her dog because she cannot hear her surroundings.

Heather said her mum is not coping with her poor hearing, and wants more to be done to help patients needing new hearing aids.

She said: “She had to get new hearing aids because her hearing has gotten worse.

“But they kept falling off and every time I put them in for her, they pinged right back off.

“I told the nurses they were not fitting her properly, but they just told her she had to put up with them until she can get an appointment.

“It is so frustrating because there is not enough help for her on the NHS, why should she have to wait?

“She can’t hear her phone ringing and I have to talk right in her face for her to hear me.

“She can’t go into the town now either or call my brother for a chat - she likes to take the dog out for a walk, but she needs to keep turning around all the time to see if anyone is coming up behind her, and if she meets anyone she knows she can’t speak to them.

“It’s not good at home either - what if someone was to break into her house? She would not be able to hear that.

“What if something was to happen while I was at work? No one would be able to get in contact with her because she can’t hear her phone or the doorbell.

“She often gets angry at me because she cannot hear me, and that is not a good environment to be in, it really gets her down.

“It is not negligence, but NHS Tayside needs to buck up its ideas.

“She is not coping and it is very frustrating - I have had to cancel a GP appointment for her because she can’t hear.”

Initially she was told her mum would not get an appointment until May 10, leaving Heather having to contemplate paying for private treatment to make sure she could hear again in time for a family holiday to Menorca.

Since contacting the PA she was finally offered an appointment this week, but Heather says she still feels her mum has had to wait too long without her hearing.

Heather continued: “I am disgusted with the service, people don’t know how difficult it can be waiting for an audiology appointment.”

A spokesperson for NHS Tayside said: “Due to patient confidentiality, we are unable to comment on matters relating to individual patient care.

“The audiology service makes every effort to assist patients with broken and damaged hearing aids to ensure they get replacement devices as soon as possible.

“Sometimes, for clinical reasons, delays in the process can occur whilst issues such as any infection are allowed to clear up or treatment required by GP is undertaken.

“Our volunteers are not trained to look in ears or take impressions for hearing aids as these are clinical duties that can only be carried out by a fully trained audiologist.

“We have been in contact with the patient and her family to discuss her concerns.”