Cancer op cancelled over lack of beds

Trevor Hodgson endured a pre-operation enema and was gowned-up ready for a five-hour operation at the Royal Preston Hospital to remove anal cancer, when he was told he had to go home because of a lack of high-dependency beds.

The 55-year-old former hotel worker of Clevedon Road, Blackpool, said: “I was diagnosed on February 15 and there’s been all this build up to the operation since. I’ve had sleepless nights and my stomach’s been in knots.

“So then I get to the hospital, go through all the pre-op and then I get told it’s off because there’s no high-dependency beds available.

“I’ve been in pain all day with the stress of it. I just want to get through this tunnel and get recovering.”

He added: “If I don’t have this operation the tumour will start spreading and I’ve been told I’ve only got two years to live.

“I haven’t been given a new date, but I have been told that this could happen again the next time. There’s only so much a person can take.”

Mr Hodgson’s brother Kevin, who took half a day off work to drive him to the hospital, said the incident was “shameful, extremely painful, life threatening and totally unacceptable.”

Karen Partington, chief executive at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, apologised to the family.

She said: “Unfortunately we do only have a certain number of high dependency beds and our hospitals are currently extremely full with many patients being admitted because they require emergency care, and this is something that we are unable to plan ahead for.

We are looking into the issue as a matter of urgency and we are re-scheduling Mr Hodgson’s procedure as a priority.”