1,000 cancelled hospital ops
Posted: February 25, 2015
Posted in: Medical Negligence
A hospital in Devon has had to cancel over 1,000 operations due to increased pressures on their service. The hospital has been on “black alert” since January due to an overwhelming demand on its A&E department, a problem that is also being faced at the Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust and Yeovil Hospital in Somerset. Plymouth Hospitals Trust said that routine operations such as knee and hip replacements and hernia repairs have had to be cancelled at Derriford Hospital.
The chief operating officer for Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust, Kevin Baber, said that January saw the cancellation of 700 operations either on the scheduled day of surgery or in advance. He foresees that February will follow the same pattern, and will see at least a further 300 operations cancelled.
Last few months have been a “nightmare”
Mr Baber said: “The patients that have attended our A&E department have needed to. We have not seen large numbers of patients attending who are inappropriate attenders.” He continued by saying that he was unable to forecast when the trust would come out of “black alert”, being the fourth South West trust to fall into this category. He said that the crisis affecting the area’s health service is clearly deepening.
23-year-old Matthew Beadnall has been suffering with severe abdominal pain since September 2014 and is still waiting for surgery. He described the last few months as a “nightmare”.
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