TWO weeks ago, I had a heartbreaking conversation with a patient of mine in London. She had been diagnosed with a large kidney cancer and I had planned to operate on her to remove it. However, with the impact of the coronavirus pandemic hitting Britain hard, we had lost 21 of the 24 operating theatres normally available in my hospital’s main complex. More importantly, there were no available intensive beds to care for her, which would have been essential given her complex medical needs.
“I’m sorry, ” I said, “but I can’t tell you when it might be possible to do this operation – and there’s a chance that it may be too late by the time we can.” Tragically, this was only one of several such conversations that I have had in recent weeks. Colleagues and I have stared at each other in disbelief after spending hours going through lists of patients who will suffer a similar fate.