PETTS WOOD: 'Something not right' at Princess Royal University Hospital patient says (From News Shopper)

PETTS WOOD: 'Something not right' at Princess Royal University Hospital patient says

9:20am Tuesday 17th November 2009 in Health News By Robert Fisk

A FATHER-of-four has raised concerns over the borough’s hospitals after having an operation postponed three times.

Surgeons were expected to operate on John Baker’s arthritic big toes at the Princess Royal University Hospital, Farnborough, on October 29 to relieve the pain.

But he was sent back to his house in Nightingale Road, Petts Wood, because surgeons were too busy with emergency operations.

This has happened twice since then.

The 63-year-old said: “Something is not quite right.

“They are overworked and there is no control of the system and what is going on in the public health there.”

A South London Healthcare NHS Trust spokesman says it regrets the situation: “Elective patients are sometimes postponed to make space on operating lists for emergency cases, however we do recognise this is not an ideal situation for patients awaiting surgery.

Mr Baker is booked to have his operation on Thursday (November 19) at Orpington Hospital.