An elderly man had his operation cancelled FOUR times - forcing his surgeon to take matters into his own hands. 

John Crosbie, 72, had travelled to the Cumberland Infirmary, Carlisle, six times since February before finally being operated on last Tuesday. 

The ordeal has resulted in him receiving apologies from the North Cumbria University Hospitals Trust and his surgeons. 

Mr Crosbie, of Egremont, said he only finally received his operation after a frustrated surgeon "took matters into his own hands'' and managed to find a free theatre and bed. 

The first and second times Mr Crosbie travelled to Carlisle for his operation, it was cancelled due to a lack of beds. 

He said: "A young surgeon and a consultant took me and personally apologised - on behalf of themselves - because it was so ridiculous. 

"It got to me, with all the hanging about and getting ready. Being mucked about gets to you." 

On the third occasion, Mr Crosbie was admitted into theatre and anaesthetised before the operation was cancelled. 

"I came to when the anaesthetic wore off and thought the operation was done,'' Mr Crosbie explained. 

"It had been cancelled because they didn't know I had an infection." 

The infection wasn't picked up as he only underwent a pre-med before the first operation. He then had to revisit Carlisle to pick up medication after he was originally sent home with the wrong cream. 

And on another occasion he was again anaesthetised before the cancellation was made, meaning he awoke thinking the surgery was over. 

Eventually a surgeon - who apologised personally to Mr Crosbie - had to act. 

"I went in on May 23 and the surgeon came down to see me, he asked if anyone had been to see me. It was left to him to tell me it was cancelled again. I just cracked up," said Mr Crosbie. 

"He was trying on the phone to get a theatre and a bed for me. I went outside and he came out to get me. The surgeon talked me into staying. They finally got me a bed at 5.30pm. I had been there since 7am." 

Following his ordeal, Mr Crosbie is now recovering at his Dent View home. "The nurses were fantastic, all the medical staff have been brilliant,'' he said. "But the managers couldn't organise a nursery singsong.'' 

Helen Ray, chief operating officer for the North Cumbria University Hospitals Trust, said: "The trust is currently seeing a high level of demand for our services and our staff are continuing to work extremely hard to ensure patients are seen as quickly as possible. 

"Unfortunately on some occasions, the level of emergency demand means that small numbers of operations have to be cancelled which we appreciate is very disruptive to the patients affected. 

"We would like to offer our sincere apologies to Mr Crosbie for the disruption he has experienced and we would also like to offer assurance that we will be reflecting on what has happened with our teams in order to learn and improve on the service Mr Crosbie has received. 

"We are pleased that Mr Crosbie has now had his surgery and wish him well in his recovery."