cancer scandal
I’ve been waiting a year for this op.. to have it cancelled because of dust is ridiculous
oPerATions at a hospital have been cancelled because the theatre floors were covered in dust.
The dust has come from construction work taking place at the hospital, say bosses.
But it has left patients outraged – with one gran telling the Record she has been left in agonising pain after she was turned away from a planned op on a serious bowel condition.
Emma Stewart, from Caol, near Fort William, said the procedure was cancelled – for the second time – after she had travelled the 65-mile journey Raigmore Hospital in Inverness.
The 57-year-old, whose sister died last year of bowel cancer, said: “I was absolutely raging, I have been waiting a year for this and have already had an operation cancelled for January 10 because of the flu epidemic.
“I understood that – but to be cancelled because of dust, this is ridiculous.”
Emma, who has been unable to return to her job as a checkout operator at Morrisons while she awaits surgery, added: “The operation is an emergency to me as I have no control over my bowel.
“I have no life. I have to take medication and I am housebound.”
She said the three-and-a-half hour return trip to Inverness was horrendous because of her condition and when she arrived home, she was so exhausted that she went straight to bed.
Emma, who walks with crutches, also suffers from with osteoarthritis, osteoporosis and fibromyalgia.
She added: “My husband Brian took the day off work to drive me there.
“But it kills me because it’s very painful, especially as the road is full of potholes.”
Emma said the loss of her sister Sharon Dalziel, 62, in August made her especially anxious to have the bowel operation. She added: “I promised my sister I would have this operation and I just want it over and done with. “Sharon had never been ill, it was always me. But she took ill in June. “Four-and-a-half weeks was all she had – that is why I am getting so upset about this. “It is a bowel operation and I made a promise to her that I would have the operation and get on with my life. “I am fed up being chained to the house.” She added: “Why can’t they come here and do the operation in the Belford Hospital in Fort William?
“We have a perfectly good theatre here and I am sure the theatre in the Belford would be clean.”
Katherine Sutton, deputy director of operations for Raigmore Hospital, confirmed the cancellations were due to dust contamination.
But she said measures have ensured emergency surgeries will continue as normal.
Sutton added: “Construction work as part of the theatre upgrade has resulted in an increased level of dust being tracked into the theatre block.
“We are confident that the measures we are putting in place will ensure that we will soon be able to return to normal operating at Raigmore.”