Flight disruption forces cancellation of Orkney operations

Operations were cancelled at Orkney's Balfour hospital

NHS Orkney has said a number of operations had to be cancelled after a surgeon was caught up in travel disruption lasting two days.

The medic - understood to be an ear nose and throat surgeon - was on a Loganair flight from Aberdeen to Orkney which was cancelled on Friday.

A "priority" group - including the medic - were put up overnight in Aberdeen before flying to Shetland.

But the aircraft broke down leaving them stranded for a second night.

Meanwhile, the other passengers on Friday's cancelled flight were sent to hotels in Inverness then flown home to Orkney on Saturday.

The health board said it had been "a highly unusual situation".

A spokesperson apologised to patients waiting at the Balfour Hospital in Kirkwall whose procedures had to be cancelled "at very short notice" because a "clinical member of staff" was not able to travel to Orkney in time.

They said operations would be re-scheduled as soon as possible.

Loganair said staff sickness which had impacted its ability to operate as scheduled

Loganair said: "Unfortunately, like many other airlines, we have recently experienced cases of staff sickness which has impacted our ability to operate as scheduled on a handful of our services.

"While the impact has been lesser for Loganair, our service between Aberdeen and Kirkwall on Friday evening was regrettably cancelled due to such circumstances."

But a passenger included in the priority group criticised communication from the airline.

Bridget Scott said she could not understand why they had to fly over Orkney on their way north to Shetland.

She told BBC Radio Orkney: "I don't know if we were put on the scheduled Sumburgh flight. That may be possible. But I just thought we would have landed in Kirkwall first."

Loganair has been asked about that, but so far has not responded to the question.

Ms Scott was put into the priority group because she - and another passenger - were running out of vital medication, which was prescribed for them at Shetland's Gilbert Bain hospital. It also included those travelling with young children, and patients returning to Orkney after appointments at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary.

NHS Orkney said it was aware of other patients who had their travel disrupted. In a statement the health board said it would be "engaging with the airline to address the concerns raised with us".

Orkney's MSP Liam McArthur said there were "undoubtedly lessons to learn" from what happened.

He said the experience that passengers had "endured" had been "deeply regrettable and pretty unacceptable".

He said he would be speaking to the airline and looking for reassurances about a range of issues, including communication with passengers.