Two years of misery
From the Guardian Series, first published Thursday 12th May 2005.
A CREWE mother is taking legal action against Leighton Hospital, claiming a botched operation has left her in misery for almost two years.
Vicky Oakes, 31, of Richmond Road, underwent a Caesarean section in July 2003 giving birth to her fifth child Alannah.
But it was not until the day after that she noticed severe bruising and a lump in her stomach.
She said: "They told me it would go away when things settled down and they discharged me after four days.
"But the day after I was rushed back in with a severe internal infection. Someone looked at me and I was just given a course of antibiotics."
When she was still in pain two months later she went to see her GP.
She said: "Following a CT scan, he said it was definitely a hernia caused during the section when they had cut through into my bowel by mistake."
She was eventually put on a waiting list, but told the earliest appointment was November 2004. And when she finally went for the pre-op she was told it had been cancelled.
A further appointment in January was also cancelled, as was a third in February.
Vicky went in again on Friday and waited two hours for a bed before being told she would be next into theatre.
She said: "Five minutes later I was told to get dressed as my op had been cancelled and the surgeon had gone to see private patients."
The married mum-of-five said her quality of life has been decimated since the C-section.
She said: "I can no longer walk my children to school and I struggle with everyday things like picking my daughter up and shopping.
"I have never even had an apology from the hospital. If I'd caused the problem I could perhaps understand it, but they have caused it.
"I did tell them something was wrong after the birth, only to be told it was all in my head."
The Trust's director of service development Mandy Donald said: "Naturally, we are concerned if any patients are dissatisfied with the health care we provide and should like to extend our sincere apologies in this case.
"We do everything in our power to avoid postponing operations and we deeply regret and fully understand the distress and inconvenience which this causes to patients.
"However, it must be emphasised that seriously ill patients must always take priority over other, less urgent cases.
"Unfortunately, sometimes the unpredictable nature of theatre lists and availability of beds means occasionally it's not always possible for surgery to go ahead as scheduled."
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