"Sharp rise" in respiratory illnesses across country causing bed shortages at Royal Manchester Children's Hospital
Seasonal illnesses including flu and RSV are adding pressure to secondary care in the NHS.
Royal Manchester Children's Hospital say there's been a sharp increase in the number of young people needing hospital treatment across the country, after becoming very unwell with respiratory illnesses.
It's causing bed shortages and a number of planned surgeries are being postponed as a result, with hospital bosses apologising for the inconvenience caused.
This dad told us his 3-year-old son's operation to solve breathing problems has been delayed twice within the last two weeks, after spending months on a waiting list: "My son had been nil by mouth for six hours when we got to the hospital. We were taken through really quickly and seen by the anaesthetist and the surgeon, who talked us through the procedure and prepared us all for what was about to happen. We were told that our son was first on the list for surgery, and that we'd get called down to theatre in a few minutes.
"At that point we were feeling quite impressed by how quickly everything was progressing, whilst at the same time very anxious about the surgery and the recovery ahead. He's been waiting ages for this operation and it could make such a difference to his life.
"The next thing we know, a non-medical member of staff came over to the table. She asked to speak to either myself or my wife in private, so my wife followed her into a room and it was there that she was told there was no way the operation could go ahead because the hospital was full to capacity. There wasn't an overnight bed for him to stay in after the operation.
"We were really upset and disappointed because we couldn't understand why we hadn’t been told sooner. It seemed like such a waste of everyone's time, especially the surgeon and anaesthetist. For our son it was very confusing to explain that we were going home, knowing he had to face the nervous build up all over again.
"We understand the pressures that the hospital is under, and of course it's only right that emergencies should be prioritised - but it feels like a situation like this could have been avoided, at least to prevent us from starving our son in preparation for the operation and travelling to the hospital. But unfortunately we had a very similar set of circumstances the following week when the surgery was rearranged and cancelled again, at short notice."
A spokesperson for Royal Manchester Children's Hospital is assuring families who've been affected by cancellations that treatment will be rescheduled as soon as possible: "There has been a sharp increase in the number of children across the country who need hospital treatment for respiratory illnesses after becoming very unwell. Because of this, a small number of patients’ planned procedures at Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital have had to be rescheduled, as we need to treat patients by clinical urgency. We are very sorry for our children and families affected in this way.
"Our staff do everything they can to ensure that patients receive their planned procedures as expected, but we must balance emergency demands. We apologise for the inconvenience caused by rescheduling and any patient affected will have their treatment rescheduled as soon as possible.”