A 62-year-old mother-of-two spent £13,500 on private heart surgery after failing to receive an NHS appointment letter, only for the delayed Royal Mail delivery to arrive three days later with a date for the same procedure.
Wendy Worth, from Gloucester, used her inheritance to pay for a coronary angioplasty at Gloucester Royal Hospital on July 22, fearing her condition could worsen before she heard from the NHS.
But on July 25, she received a second-class letter dated July 9 informing her that she could undergo the operation free of charge on August 3.
Mrs Worth, who works as an administrative assistant, said tests had shown that her left ventricle was almost completely blocked. She decided to go private after hearing nothing about when her NHS treatment would take place.
“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,” she said.
“It’s shocking and almost cruel in the fact that it arrived so soon after I had the operation. I just couldn’t believe it.”
She added: “I literally cried because I thought, I’ve spent all this money and I could have had it on the NHS.”
The letter was delivered in a bundle with other important post, including overdue birthday and graduation cards for Mrs Worth and her son. Delivery delays at Royal Mail depots in Gloucester were attributed to staff and resourcing pressures.
Mrs Worth said the private operation took place at the NHS-run Gloucester Royal Hospital, where she was treated by NHS doctors and shared a consultant with NHS patients.
“I actually had the operation in Gloucester anyway which was annoying. There were NHS people next to me who had the same consultant and I was private,” she said.
“It was quite a kick in the teeth.”
Royal Mail and NHS responses
Despite Mrs Worth not responding to the appointment letter, the NHS did not contact her between July 9 and August 3 to tell her about the planned procedure.
Following concerns over postal delays, Royal Mail and Gloucester MP Alex McIntyre held a meeting with affected residents, including Mrs Worth. She said the company promised to contact her and apologise, but that she was still waiting.
Mrs Worth also said Royal Mail told her there would be “major changes” to delivery times by September 10. “Well, it’s October and it’s absolutely worse,” she said. “I’ve never known it to be like this ever.”
Mr McIntyre said what happened was “completely unacceptable” and that Royal Mail owed Mrs Worth “at the very least a full and sincere apology”.
“No one should be in Wendy’s position, directly as a result of poor service. The stress and anxiety this has caused is appalling,” he said.
He added that people across the country were experiencing delays to important post, including bank cards, financial documents and medical letters.
A Royal Mail spokesperson said: “We’re sorry to hear of this customer’s experience and are looking into it.
“We know how important it is that our customers receive their mail when expected, particularly important items like hospital letters, and take concerns of this nature very seriously.
“We know there is more to do to improve reliability in some areas. We are continuing to make changes across our network to improve service for customers and our latest Quality of Service results show that 93% of letters are delivered on time and more than 99% within a week.”
A spokesperson for Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said the appointment letter had been sent to Mrs Worth on July 9 for treatment on August 3.
“No further contact was made before the planned procedure date, which was in line with the process in place at the time. We are sorry that Mrs Worth did not receive her appointment letter in time,” the spokesperson said.
The trust said it had since introduced additional checks and now contacted patients who had not confirmed their appointment in the week before treatment.
“This has already helped us identify cases where appointment letters have not been received, allowing us to contact patients directly and help ensure they receive the care they need,” the spokesperson added.
