Your Voice, Your Vote general election: NHS waiting lists

Jabar Barzanji is “desperate” to have eye surgery.

“Initially I had a couple of surgeries that took place within a few months,” he says, “but the last one, I’ve been waiting for three years.”

The 23-year-old, from Newcastle, lost his left eye in a car accident, in which his parents died, when he was a teenager.

He was seriously injured and wears a patch as he waits for an implant.

“I don’t know what caused this long wait,” he says.

“It’s not a day or two, or months, or a year, or two years. Especially for someone like myself at such a young age, it’s just difficult.”

Jabar says because he wears an eyepatch, people make assumptions.

“I do wear a prosthetic eye, it causes pain because the implant is not suitable, it can cause inflammation, so I wear a patch,” he explains.

He says the situation has also had a negative affect on his mental health.

Jabar, who works full-time and has plans to to university, says he hopes to have his surgery in the next few months.

In the past he has considered going abroad for treatment, but says it was too expensive.

He says he wants the next government to speed-up appointments.