St Leonards man's operation delayed as transport fails to arrive

A pensioner's operation has been delayed for more than a month because patient transport failed to turn up for him.
By The Newsroom
Published 20th Apr 2016, 14:08 BST
Updated 20th Apr 2016, 15:10 BST

This article contains affiliate links. We may earn a small commission on items purchased through this article, but that does not affect our editorial judgement.

Bryan Dawe. SUS-160420-094331001Bryan Dawe. SUS-160420-094331001
Bryan Dawe. SUS-160420-094331001

Bryan Dawe, 78, of Beachy Head View, St Leonards, was due to have an operation on his heart on April 11 at the Royal Brompton Hospital in London.

He booked the ambulance nine days earlier but by the afternoon on the day his operation was due it still had not arrived.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Mr Dawe said: “At 8.50am I phoned to see if the ambulance was coming and was told it would by noon.

“By 12.20pm it had not turned up.

“I rang again and no one answered.

“An hour after that it still hadn’t arrived.

“By 1pm it was too late to get to the Royal Brompton on time, as I was supposed to be there by 3pm.”

Mr Dawe had no choice but to ring the hospital and apologise for being unable to go.

The hospital then contacted him later and asked if he could make it the following day (April 12).

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Mr Dawe said: “I telephoned the booking service again for the transport and got up at 4am.

“The ambulance was due to pick me up at 6am but I was later told it had been cancelled.

“I got very fed up and told the hospital what happened.

“The hospital was very annoyed and has had to put back my operation until May 25. This is quite serious as it’s an operation on my heart.

“I suffer from angina and have to go up to hospital every six months for check-ups.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Since Coperforma took over from SECAmb, hundreds of patients across Sussex have faced long delays and cancelled operations with patient transport turning up late or failing to arrive.

Last week, the Observer reported on how Thirugnanam Sureshan, of Buckhurst Road, Bexhill, had missed an important consultation at St Thomas’ Hospital in London after his transport failed to arrive.

He had transport booked for 7.30am on April 12.

But the ambulance did not arrive and Mr Sureshan, 43, now has to wait until July for the next consultation about gastric bypass surgery.

Coperforma has apologised to all patients across Sussex affected by delays.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Don’t miss out on all the latest breaking news where you live.

Here are four ways you can be sure you’ll be amongst the first to know what’s going on.

1) Make our website your homepage at www.hastingsobserver.co.uk/ 2) Like our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/hastingsobserver

3) Follow us on Twitter @HastingsObs

4) Register with us by clicking on ‘sign in’ (top right corner). You can then receive our daily newsletter AND add your point of view to stories that you read here.

And do share with your family and friends - so they don’t miss out!

The Hastings Observer - always the first with your local news.

Be part of it.

Related topics:St LeonardsLondonSussex