Man’s three X-ray appointments axed after machine fails

A MAN is angry after his hospital X-ray appointment was cancelled three times in two months.

Tony Sheffield, 75, was told each time that the X-ray machine at Townlands Memorial Hospital in Henley was out of order.

He claims it is “ridiculous” that it is taking so long for the spare part needed to fix the machine to arrive and questioned why the second and third appointments were made for him when it was still broken.

Mr Sheffield, of Harpsden Road, Henley, was due to have a chest
X-ray in early May after it was booked by the Bell Surgery in York Road, where he is a patient.

But he was told by the hospital that the machine was out of action and they were waiting for the new part.

He was booked in for a second appointment but when he arrived he was told the machine had still not been fixed.

On the day of his third appointment on August 1, he received a phone call 40 minutes beforehand saying that it had been cancelled as the machine was still out of order.

He was advised to go to the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading, which accepts walk-ins but he declined.

Mr Sheffield said: “It’s a much more fundamental requirement for Townlands to fix their machine.

“How long does it take to get a spare part? It’s just ridiculous and laughable.

“To go to the Royal Berks, I have to drive all the way there, park at my own expense, find the right department and then wait in a queue with other people for God knows how long when we have a perfectly good hospital right up the road.

“Being cancelled three times is getting so tedious and it’s the fact I had to go there only to be told to leave.

“Until recently, my experience with Townlands was very good indeed but I can’t say that about the current situation.”

A spokeswoman for the Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust, which is responsible for services at Townlands, said: “There have been two recent breakdowns of the X-ray machine at Townlands and we have been waiting on a replacement part, which is to be delivered soon.

“In the meantime, to ensure our patients are able to continue to access X-ray services, a temporary mobile X-ray machine has been mobilised at Townlands.

“Patients requiring scans that cannot be performed on a mobile X-ray machine have been referred or advised to visit trust sites at the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading, West Berkshire Hospital and Bracknell Healthspace.”

• In 2016, the X-ray machine at Townlands was out of service only a week after the new hospital opened due to IT problems. Patients were sent as far as Bracknell for X-rays and an “interim” X-ray room was used for more than a month while the problem was solved.