I WOULD like to express my deepest concern after my traumatic experience at Worcestershire Royal Hospital.

I was due to go to hospital for an overnight stay on April 23, to have a tonsillectomy. I rang the night before to ensure a bed was available on the Beech Unit. The staff nurse told me that I should arrive at 11am.

My operation had already been cancelled on March 12 and March 26.

On April 23 I sat in the waiting room for three hours with other patients being given beds, so I went to inquire how much longer I would be waiting.

The reply was that they were waiting for people to finish their lunches before being discharged, but I would not be waiting much longer.

After a further 10 minutes, an anaesthetist took me to a room to discuss the operation. He also told me I should get a bed soon.

Then a doctor came and spoke to me, also informing me of the procedure I would undergo, and that I would be in a bed soon. I then returned to the waiting room and a bed was given to me. This was at 3.15pm, after four hours of waiting.

I settled myself into the bed and was given a gown to wear, ready for the operation. I sat and waited, getting quite fed up. A nurse popped in a few times to get details from me.

At exactly 6pm my consultant came to inform me that my operation, which takes 20 minutes to perform, would not be done because they had run out of time. Why was this not realised earlier?

I asked what that would mean. He replied: "You go home and are put on our priority list". I informed him that this had been the third operation to be cancelled, and I had been waiting seven hours.

All he did was apologise.

I explained to him about my loss of earnings because I had organised time off work without pay with my employer.

His response was that if there was a problem with the next date he would write to my employer, apologised again, and left. I was seething, upset and very angry.

I have since had a successful operation but I feel I should be compensated for my loss of earnings, trauma and time. I await the hospital's investigation.

JOANNA MEE

Chaffinch Drive

Kidderminster