ANOTHER patient has told how her operation was cancelled at the last minute at York Hospital - as the number of Covid patients rose to a new record of 261 and another 14 such patients died.

The latest data from NHS England showed today that the York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust’s hospitals had now experienced a total of 850 Covid-related deaths since the start of the pandemic two years ago.

The trust said that of the 261 current inpatients, four were in intensive care.

The Press reported on Monday how a 24-year-old woman had been left ‘inconsolable’ after she was told - just as she was walking to a York Hospital operating theatre - that her long-awaited surgery could not go ahead.

Another woman contacted the newspaper yesterday to say she too had been affected by the last minute postponement of an operation in the wake of rising Covid patient numbers.

The woman, who did not wish to be identified, said that unfortunately, rather than an isolated incident, she feared the other patient’s experience had become the ‘new normal’ at York Hospital for elective surgery.

She said her planned procedure had first been cancelled in April 2020 and then cancelled again earlier this month, after she had been waiting in the Day Unit for five hours.

“The surgeon and anaesthetist were ready and waiting, but I was suddenly pulled into a side room and told my bed had been given to an urgent patient and I should go home,” she said.

“Other women in the unit had also had previous operations cancelled on the day – for one lady it was her ‘third try'! I am rescheduled for March 31 but have been told that the same thing could happen again.”

She said she had Stage 4 breast cancer and her anti-cancer treatment was on hold while she waited for the operation.

“I also have to try and avoid catching Covid whilst I wait, which is very challenging at the moment. The practical, physical and emotional consequences of this mess are enormous.

“In desperation, I inquired at Nuffield about having my procedure done privately – I was quoted £13,000 and told there was a thee-month waiting list, so they are clearly under pressure too, not that I could afford to have it done this way anyway.

“For me, the cancellation was the final straw in terms of my mental health and I am now on anti-depressants. Despite having cancer, I am trying hard to get on with my life but things like this have a big impact – apart from the direct effect on my health and treatment, I work on a freelance basis so I have turned down work and lost money.

“I am also studying for a degree part time and I’ve had to rearrange deadlines etc for that, my parents had a 500 mile wasted round trip to provide childcare etc. I really don’t want the operation to be cancelled due to me having Covid but it is very hard to avoid at the moment, so I am essentially shielding.”

A trust spokeswoman said: “We know it’s distressing when we have to cancel operations but it’s a really challenging situation at the moment, as you can see from our high Covid patient numbers.”