Cancer patient's surgery cancelled three times due to ICU beds shortage

Gillian married her husband Craig in October

A cancer patient has had her surgery cancelled three times in a month due to a lack of intensive care beds at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee.

Gillian Crawford needs an ICU bed in the days following a procedure that can only be done in Scotland at Ninewells.

She will now travel to the next closest specialist centre, in Manchester, to have the operation.

NHS Tayside said the decision to defer a procedure was always taken by clinicians as a "last resort."

Gillian, 48, from Perth, was diagnosed with appendix cancer and had a large tumour removed in April 2021. 

She was told the cancer had spread to other parts of her abdomen and she was given six rounds of chemotherapy from July to September.

She is now awaiting hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) surgery, which is used to treat certain cancers in the abdomen.

After the tumours are surgically removed, heated chemotherapy drugs are pumped directly into the abdomen to remove remaining cancerous cells.

The operation was first scheduled for 11 November, but was cancelled that morning.

The operation was scheduled to be performed at Ninewells Hospital

Gillian said: "I felt very lucky to be based in Tayside and have a surgeon who can do this procedure.

"My surgeon is the only guy in Scotland who can do it."

She said the surgeon and NHS Tayside staff had been "amazing" and had "done what they could" to get her a bed.

But due to her case being classed as elective surgery rather than an emergency she has not been prioritised for an ICU bed.

The pandemic has also created a shortage of intensive care beds with Ninewells having to staff and operate two separate ICUs.

Gillian, who married husband Craig in October, said: "I'm so distressed about it. I don't have the luxury of time.

"My surgeon said he would clear his diary to do it because it was beginning to get into dangerous territory."

After being prevented from being able to do the procedure for the third time he asked Gillian if she would be willing to travel to the next closest specialist centre.

Gillian said she replied: "Reluctantly, yes."

She is now awaiting confirmation of a date for the procedure to be done in Manchester.

An NHS Tayside spokeswoman said: "Our clinicians continue to be in direct contact with the patient and her family and the team has worked hard to put arrangements in place for her treatment to be carried out elsewhere."

The health board said patient safety was its priority and its clinical teams must be satisfied that intensive care support was available following a pre-planned operation, if required.

It added that on some occasions no ICU beds were available due to the "unpredictable nature of emergencies".

Latest figures for October show 1,385 planned operations (8.3% of the 16,704 total) in Scotland were cancelled the day before or on the day the patient was due to be treated.

Of these, 407 were cancelled by the hospital due to capacity or non-clinical reasons.

Story by local democracy reporter Kathryn Anderson.