'An NHS admin error cost our family £20,000'

A family has said they felt forced to pay £20,000 for an elderly relative's treatment at a private hospital after an NHS administration error delayed an operation for months.

Paul Carlier said his mother-in-law had been told by hospital staff she would have an emergency hip replacement, but 10 months later she was still waiting for the surgery.

The 82-year-old from Kent became unable to stand and was "constantly crying in pain", Mr Carlier told BBC South East, so the family felt they had to go private to end her "suffering".

Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust expressed its "sincerest sympathies" to the patient and said it acknowledged the family's frustrations over the surgery delays.

The trust said it regretted her treatment had been affected by a "clerical error", but also cited disruption due to the Covid pandemic.

"We acknowledge the inconvenience and distress this caused," the NHS trust said.

Mr Carlier claimed the "clerical error" had never been properly explained to his family.

He said the cost of going private had left them in a "delicate and stressful" financial position.

While Mr Carlier said they were able to find the money, he feared "many others" would not be "so fortunate".

Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust said it had written to Mr Carlier's family explaining the clerical error was a "double booking".

Mr Carlier said the family had been told by Queen Mary's Hospital in Sidcup, south east London, in January 2020 that his mother-in-law would have a total hip replacement the following month as the case was "urgent".

"You could hear her bones grinding when she tried to walk," he said. "She was in absolute agony.

"There was no respite from it. She wasn't able to sleep properly."

Mr Carlier said after they had been told she had been "mistakenly" left off February's treatment list, the family were offered a date in April, which was cancelled due to the Covid pandemic.

Dartford and Gravesham Trust said Mr Carlier's mother-in-law "was not missed" off the treatment list, but instead put on one at another hospital "best suited" to her needs.

The next appointment was set for September, but the NHS trust said this had been cancelled due to a "clerical error".

Mr Carlier said the family had to keep chasing the NHS to find out what was happening and eventually decided to pay for the surgery at a private clinic in October as she was in "severe pain".

"We could have waited, but she had suffered long enough," he said. "It was all avoidable. It should have been done on the NHS long before that."

"They failed her," added his wife Louise.

Mr Carlier said his mother-in-law, whom he described as a "vulnerable pensioner", had been "left out in the cold" by the healthcare system.

"Whilst the intolerable agony is no longer there, the memories and experience of it have never gone away," he added, claiming she has been left with long-term physical and mental health impacts.

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