AN attack victim left scarred and virtually unable to breathe through her nose will finally get NHS treatment, after a U-turn by health bosses.
The Press revealed this week how mum-of-one Rebecca Beattie, 25, was refused the funding experts said was needed to repair her shattered nose following the brutal assault by her former partner Bradley Scot Want, who was later jailed for 16 months.
But following a meeting yesterday with Miss Beattie, who has a four-year-old son, the NHS Vale of York Clinical Commissioning Group has reversed the original decision. She will now get the treatment she has said she needs to put her ordeal behind her.
Miss Beattie has said money raised by family and friends to pay for private treatment, which was expected to cost £5,500, would now be donated to a women’s charity.
Miss Beattie said: “I’m absolutely delighted. It is a shame it has had to get to this extent, but I believe everything happens for a reason, and if this had not happened we wouldn’t have raised so much money – about £2,000 – to help other women through the donation we will be making to charity.
“The CCG were very understanding and reassuring and they also explained to me why I might have been rejected for funding in the first place and gave me a better understanding of the situation.
“The treatment will mean I no longer have a physical reminder of what I went through staring me in the face. I will be able to breathe properly, sleep properly, exercise well, and I will just be so much happier.”
Dr Mark Hayes, the CCG’s chief officer, said: “Members of the Vale of York CCG governing body met privately with Rebecca Beattie, the evidence around her case was reviewed carefully, and it was concluded that it is clear the prime reason for the reconstructive surgery is to alleviate the breathing difficulties she is encountering, and not for cosmetic reasons. We will shortly be writing to her surgeon to confirm that the Vale of York CCG will fund the surgery to reconstruct Miss Beattie’s nasal bone.”
Miss Beattie had said the injuries she suffered meant she could not breathe through one nostril and could barely breathe through the other, wrecking her sleep.
Her surgeon said she required corrective and cosmetic surgery after she suffered a grossly deviated septum, splayed nasal bones and fractures in the assault last year. However, an exceptions panel which assesses and decides on applications for treatment initially refused to pay for it.
Her case was taken up by York Central MP Hugh Bayley, who last night said: “I am glad the NHS has now agreed to fund the treatment her doctors said is necessary, and that those holding the purse strings reviewed the matter and came to this decision.
“I hope Rebecca gets this treatment soon to help her overcome the appalling injuries she suffered.”
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