Frustrated patients speak out after having operations postponed at King's Mill Hospital due to lack of equipment

Patients contacted The Chad to inform us that “all elective operations” had been cancelled at the hospital in Mansfield Road, Sutton due to a “lack of sterile equipment”.

The Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust who runs the hospital confirmed a temporary issue with equipment in the sterile services department, combined with “some operational issues at King’s Mill Hospital” was to blame for the situation.

One patient, who did not want to be named, was due to have a complex shoulder replacement and bone graft on Monday following a two year wait only to be told 48 hours before it would not go ahead.

The patient, who lives in Ladybrook has been forced to spend nearly £1,000 to move his family holiday as a result of the change.

The 63-year-old said: “I was absolutely gutted I’ve been waiting two years now and I’m in dire pain. I was all set up to go in Monday, I’d been on blood thinners in preparation and I’d organised to have time off work and arranged our family holiday around it so now it’s back to square one.

"I was told it was because there was in a increase in trauma cases so if it is the case that it’s an equipment issue and I’ve been lied to then that’s terrible, it makes me very angry.”

Posting on Facebook reader Christine Allen said: “My husband was prepped and gowned up and waited six hours before telling him is operation had been cancelled.”

Elaine Burgess posted: “yes three cancellations, but when they cancel they never tell you the true reason.”

Rob Cheetham posted: “Brother was in theatre when they cancelled his op for the third time.”

Simon Illingworth, Chief Operating Officer at Sherwood Forest Hospitals, said: “Providing efficient and safe care is at the heart of what we do as a Trust and sterilised equipment is critical to supporting the hundreds of people who have the surgeries and procedures they need and deserve across our hospitals each day.

“We know that waiting for an appointment or procedure can be a really anxious time and I would like to apologise to all those patients who have been affected by this issue.

“Sherwood Forest Hospitals has well-established plans which we exercise regularly to prepare ourselves to deal with outages like these, which has helped us to minimise the impact of this issue and help return us to ‘business as usual’ as quickly and as safely as possible.

“I would like to thank our hardworking Trust colleagues who have been working around-the-clock – including throughout last weekend – to minimise the impact of this issue and reschedule as many of those affected procedures as quickly as possible.”

King’s Mill Hospital is part of the Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which also runs Nottinghamshire’s Mansfield Community Hospital, Newark Hospital and Nottinghamshire’s first Community Diagnostic Centre in Mansfield. It is currently unclear if the other sites have been affected by the equipment issues.

The news comes just days after plans were revealed for a major expansion at the hospital in a bid to prevent delays and overcrowding in the emergency department.

A planning application has been submitted to Ashfield District Council by Scott Conway, head of estate development at Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Trust.

It is for internal alterations to the existing ward and adjoining rooms, extensions into the courtyard on the ground floor, and a new plant room at first-floor level – all to allow for the expansion of the majors area in the emergency department.

Patients are asked to attend their appointments and procedures in-line with the information on their most recent letter from the Trust, while staff work hard to rearrange postponed appointments.

All patients whose appointments and procedures were affected by this issue have already been contacted to inform them and many have already had another date offered. All other patients are now in the process of being contacted to confirm a new date for their appointment or procedure, with patients’ appointments being rescheduled in order of clinical priority.

If you have had an operation cancelled as result of the equipment issues contact [email protected]