A FARM worker who was kicked in the shoulder by a cow is facing a two-year wait for treatment because of a hospital waiting list.

Ribble Valley MP Nigel Evans has taken the plight of Clitheroe's Shaun Roberts to Westminster and is demanding to know why he is facing such a lengthy delay.

Today hospital bosses apologised and said the wait for the complex tests Mr Roberts needed was because they only had one consultant for the whole of Lancashire and South Cumbria.

Shaun, 27, a self-employed agricultural contractor, has no feeling in parts of his right arm and hand and has to wear a special glove to protect his hand from self-inflicted harm. Doctors believe a trapped nerve has caused the damage.

After seeing his GP in Clitheroe and a specialist at Blackburn Royal Infirmary, Shaun was referred to the Royal Preston Hospital for a nerve conduction study.

Shaun, of Siddow Farm, of Henthorn Road, says he has lost contracts worth thousands of pounds as his injury has meant he has only been able to do light work since the accident in June.

He said: "My GP found that it could cost £255 to pay for the study to be done privately, but I can't afford that because I'm barely working now.

"I was milking a newly-calved cow at the next farm to ours when she lashed out and kicked me hard on the shoulder.

"She must have caught me just right because the pain got worse throughout the day and I couldn't even lift a coffee cup.

"I had pins and needles running down my arm and it went cold. I saw my GP and he gave me a protective glove.

"A specialist at Blackburn Infirmary did some tests and found out I had no feeling in two fingers and up to the elbow on one side and referred me to Preston. That's when my treatment stopped and I'm still waiting."

Mr Evans said: "I am horrified. Here is somebody with a serious injury that is getting worse and he is having to wait two years for treatment.

"Shaun has been signed off work for three months. It could be two years before he gets treated."

Tony Curtis, chief executive of Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, said: "We would like to apologise to Mr Roberts and understand his frustration.

"The trust is the only place in Lancashire and South Cumbria to carry out a nerve conduction study. The test is highly complex and urgent cases, such as those patients with life-threatening conditions, are immediately seen as a priority.

"Unfortunately there is a waiting time of up to two years for the test for other patients. This is because we only have one consultant neurophysiologist."

The Government's current target for treatment on the NHS is nine months which will be reduced to six months next March.

But a spokesman admitted there was no target for diagnostic treatment such as that which Mr Roberts needed.