Posted on 07/02/2009 9:12:48 AM PDT by Entrepreneur
A three-year-old girl awaiting heart surgery has had her operation cancelled three times this month because of a shortage of beds.
Ella Cotterell was due to have aorta-widening surgery on Monday at the Children’s Hospital, Bristol. But 48 hours beforehand, the operation was cancelled for the third time as all 15 beds in the intensive care unit were occupied, her parents said.
A hospital spokesman said that procedures would be reviewed, but the case highlights a growing problem of cancelled operations in the NHS.
More than 57,000 surgeries were postponed for non-clinical reasons, including a lack of beds, last year – 10 per cent more than the previous year.
Latest figures show that the problem persists. At least 43,000 operations were cancelled in the first nine months of 2008-09, with nearly 1,800 patients not being treated within 28 days of their original scheduled date.
Among the excuses for cancellation the previous year were a hospital running out of shavers to prepare patients for surgery, a surgeon going missing following a fire alarm, and a patient’s translator failing to turn up.
(Excerpt) Read more at timesonline.co.uk ...
As bad as the experiences are for the UK population they will be far worse here. We have intractable poverty a victimhood mentality and illiteracy levels that are staggering for a country that has put so many resources to fixing these problems.
National health care will be the first chapter in the book of bad ideas. An impending disaster that we will not be able to pay for, or fix after it is enacted.
Before some politician tries to get me to buy into nationalized health care I need to be convinced that he and his family will be part of the program too.
bttt
No Room at the Inn...
Actually, UK citizens are allowed to use private doctors of their own choice.
Things are only bad in the UK if people want FREE healthcare. Most of my family uses private providers when necessary.
Yes, but they must pay all costs incurred. On top of which, they are still paying for their 'free' health care.
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