175 Ops Postponed At RLI

13 March 2019, 11:03 | Updated: 13 March 2019, 11:05

175 operations have been postponed at the Royal Lancaster Infirmary, because the air quality in one of its theatres is too poor.

It isn't a safe environment anymore - after work was carried out to repair a crack in the ceiling.

People will be offered new dates for procedures by April - with many slated to take place at Westmorland General Hospital.

Foluke Ajayi, Chief Operating Officer, UHBMT said: “We cannot risk the safety of our patients. The theatre is not safe to use as a conventional theatre because its physical condition has deteriorated.

“We do understand how distressing and worrying it is for patients where we have to cancel operations, and we do not make these decisions lightly. We are however working very hard to resolve the problem, and will ensure that we offer our patients an alternative operation date as soon as possible. I offer my sincere apologies to anyone who has been affected.

“Before this problem occurred, the Trust recognised that the quality of some of the operating theatres required addressing and therefore added this to the Trust’s risk register and applied for NHS Capital Funding to finance an update for our operating theatres at the RLI - however our funding application was not successful.”

A statement from UHMBT read: "This has mostly had an impact on operations, for Ophthalmology and Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) conditions. These are being planned where possible at other locations, with the majority, which are cataract operations, being planned for theatres within the Westmorland General Hospital at Kendal.

"Any patients who have had their operations postponed have been contacted by UHMBT to apologise and explain the situation. The Trust aims to have offered all affected patients a new date for their surgery by early April."