Kidney patient, GP and family of dementia sufferer aghast at ‘Third World’ scenes
A kidney patient whose operation was cancelled for the second time in a month is among thousands of “non-urgent” patients waiting to find out when the NHS will treat them.
Patients said they had been left in agony and distress, with many already having waited months for hip, knee and heart operations. Dennis Kelly, 62, from Birmingham, was due to undergo surgery at Good Hope Hospital in Sutton Coldfield yesterday to remove painful kidney stones. The operation had already been postponed once, having been due to take place in December, 10 months after he saw his GP.
Mr Kelly said he had been left in such pain he was forced to turn to A&E in the middle of the night, and was now left in “total frustration” having yet again booked time off work to go under the knife. “I first saw the GP back in April, but now I am still waiting, and every time the operation is cancelled – I’ve been waiting the best part of a year, so it’s hardly a winter crisis.” Meanwhile, a GP in Oxfordshire told of his despair after heart surgery was cancelled on the day of admission, as John Radcliffe Hospital declared a “black alert” amid mounting pressures.
Dr Dave Triffitt, a GP and out-of-hours doctor, accused the Government of “trying to destroy the NHS” as he called for extra funding for the health service.
And the family of an elderly dementia sufferer said the man had been left to languish in a hospital corridor for 36 hours, in conditions a doctor described as “Third World”. The 80-year-old was left on a trolley in the Royal Stoke Hospital from 4pm on Saturday despite having pneumonia. Scenes at the unit were “absolutely horrendous”, his daughter Jackie Weaver said. “I have never witnessed anything like that before. There were a lot of elderly who were clearly very distressed. You couldn’t get past for all the trolleys in the corridors.” The trust said it was under “severe and sustained” pressure.