Health · Healthcare & Policy · 4 hrs ago
Late Royal Mail letter led woman to pay £13,500 for heart surgery
Wendy Worth, 62, paid £13,500 for private heart surgery in Gloucester after tests showed she needed an operation.
She decided not to wait because she feared her heart would not last, and had the procedure at Gloucester Royal Hospital on July 22.
A delayed NHS letter arrived three days later with an offer of the same surgery for free on August 3.
The letter had been sent second class on July 9 and was delivered nine days late amid Royal Mail delays in Gloucester.
Worth says the delay cost her inheritance that she could have kept if the letter had arrived sooner.
The NHS did not contact her between sending the letter and the offered operation date, and the private procedure was also carried out at the NHS-run hospital by NHS doctors.
Royal Mail and Gloucester MP Alex McIntyre met affected residents, and Worth says Royal Mail promised to contact her and apologise, but she is still waiting.
Wendy Worth spent £13,500 on private heart surgery after she did not receive an NHS appointment letter.
The letter arrived three days after her operation and offered the same surgery free on August 3.
Worth said she used her inheritance because she feared her heart would not last until the NHS letter arrived.
Royal Mail delivery delays in Gloucester were attributed to staff and resourcing pressures.
Worth said Royal Mail had promised to contact her and apologise, but she was still waiting.
- Who
- Wendy Worth, 62, a mother of two.
- What
- She paid £13,500 for private heart surgery after an NHS appointment letter arrived late.
- When
- She had surgery on July 22; the letter arrived three days later and offered an NHS operation on August 3.
- Where
- The surgery took place at Gloucester Royal Hospital.
- Why
- She said she feared her heart would not last until she received an NHS appointment letter.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
The NHS appointment letter was dated.
Worth had private heart surgery at Gloucester Royal Hospital.
The letter arrived, offering surgery on the NHS on August 3.
Worth said Royal Mail had told her she would see major changes to delivery times by this date.
Worth said delivery times were worse.
- Cost of private surgery
- £13,500
- Patient
- Wendy Worth, 62
- Private operation
- July 22
- NHS operation date offered
- August 3
- Hospital
- Gloucester Royal Hospital
- Letter delivery delay
- Nine days late
What people are saying
I knew that I was bad, I could feel that I was bad, so I paid thirteen thousand odd pounds, had my operation and then three days after my procedure I got the letter from the NHS saying that I could go in.
It's shocking and almost cruel in the fact that it arrived so soon after I had the operation
What happened to Wendy is completely unacceptable, and Royal Mail owe her at the very least a full and sincere apology.