'I am annoyed with the doctors' (From Witney Gazette)

'I am annoyed with the doctors'

9:00am Wednesday 25th October 2006 in Witney By Phil Vinter

A YOUNG West Oxfordshire man with a chronic stomach condition had at least four consecutive specialist appointments at the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, cancelled.

Mark Underhill's Crohn's disease and ulcerated colitis condition deteriorated so much that on September 5 this year he had to be rushed to hospital, after he began vomiting and started passing blood and solids up to 50 times a day.

The 22-year-old was told he needed to have an emergency operation to remove almost all of his colon and part of his bowel, and told he would need a colostomy bag - possibly for the rest of his life.

His stomach problems started in December 2003, when he was rushed into the Horton Hospital, Banbury, suffering from stomach pains, but he was not seen by a specialist until April 2004.

He did not see a consultant, but a registrar, who diagnosed Chron's disease (a chronic inflammatory disease, which causes stomach pains, diarrhoea, and weight loss) and Ulcerated Colitis (an inflammatory bowel disease), and gave him medication to control it. He saw the same registrar again in June and September 2004 and January 2005 and he was told to remain on the same medication.

But after that, Mr Underhill, a chef, of High Street, Shipton-under-Wychwood, said he had not been seen again by a specialist for the next 18 months. The John Radcliffe Hospital says it did cancelled four appointments to see a specialist, and that Mr Underhill did not show up for a fifth, in September 2005.

In April 2006, when his condition became so bad he was constantly passing blood, Mr Underhill went to see his GP, and it was only due to his insistence that an appointment to see a specialist was given to Mr Underhill on June 27, 2006.

He said he had been told his condition had deteriorated, and that, although there had been an alternative medication he could have tried, it was now too late.

A month later, he added, he underwent an emergency endoscopy, and was told he would receive a letter with a date for a follow-up appointment, but it had still not arrived three weeks later, when he was rushed into hospital.

He was informed he needed to have an operation to remove a large part of his colon and part of his bowel, which would leave him needing a colostomy bag.

Mr Underhill said he feels devastated at the way he has been treated. He said: "I am totally disgusted, and I am annoyed with the doctors. I feel if they had seen me earlier, I would not have had to go through all of this and be attached to a bag for possibly the rest of my life.

"When I finally got to see a specialist in June, he spent five minutes apologising, saying he did not realise how bad it had got," he said.

"They might have been able to give me these other tablets. It is so frustrating knowing that."

After the operation, Mr Underhill said he had been told it was important for him to return to the hospital for a check-up within four weeks, but he has just received a letter offering him an appointment in November - more than two months after the operation. A spokesman for the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust's said: "We are sorry to hear of Mr Underhill's concerns about his treatment. The Trust has not been contacted directly by Mr Underhill, but we would encourage him to do so, to discuss his concerns and to address any unanswered questions he may have.

"This patient was seen regularly as an inpatient and outpatient over the last couple of years. It became clear that he was no longer responding to medical treatment and that surgery would be necessary. In approximately 15 per cent of cases of Ulcerative Colitis, surgery is an eventual necessity.

"We did cancel a number of outpatients appointments with Mr Underhill earlier in the year, and apologise for the added anxiety this has caused him and his family."