MORE than 20 operations have been cancelled at Kidderminster Hospital after efforts to resolve a pay dispute backfired.operations have been cancelled but reinstated.

The chief executive of Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, John Rostill, admitted 22 eye operations were cancelled after a letter to calm tension created by a reduction in the rate of overtime pay on offer to consultant surgeons and anaesthetists was sent to doctors in the wrong department.

This administrative error caused one ophthalmology consultant, who believed he should be paid more than was on offer to him, to cancel the 22 operations he was due to carry out tomorrow and Saturday and on February 20 and 21, said Mr Rostill.

The chief executive added the trust had received complaints from patients affected but said their operations had now been reinstated and apologised for any inconvenience caused.

He added the letter had been sent out after the trust changed its out-of-hours pay rate from a percentage of private rates per item to a sessional rate. "I sent a letter out saying I was only prepared to pay so much for consultants to operate out of normal hours, which is a sessional rate paid by other NHS trusts," he said.

He added: "The letter went to ophthalmology surgeons when it shouldn't have done and this had the effect of causing one individual to make himself unavailable and cancel operations at short notice, which is what most patients are upset about."

He insisted payment for contractual hours had not changed but said the change in out-of-hours pay rates had been necessary to correct a legacy of doctors being paid different amounts in different specialities and hospitals within the trust.

He added the rate of overtime pay on offer to ophthalmology surgeons was less than other departments because its waiting lists were shorter.

"The rate I have agreed I will pay is four times the amount they would normally get in the NHS on a sessional basis and I don't believe that is unreasonable.

He added: "Some people were upset because they perceived this as a pay cut and they could earn more in private practice elsewhere, so that's why I sent out a letter."

He went on: "The principal of equity was agreed with the doctors' representatives but they made it clear that they did not want to negotiate a rate. They accepted it was my responsibility to make an offer to consultants who would then choose whether to take that offer up or not.

"I made an offer and the majority of people have accepted it but there have been a few hiccups.

"In orthopaedics it led to a slight delay in booking patients' operations but it didn't affect anyone because they all have to be operated on in March."

Mr Rostill added: "We have a responsibility to make sure we treat our patients within nine months. We've achieved this by reducing the work which is done in the private sector and renegotiating rates of pay for work done at weekends and out of hours."

Trust spokesman Richard Haynes added: "I think the important point is that all the patients will be treated in time - and that's our main concern."

All the cancelled ophthalmology operations have been rebooked for dates in March.

Op frustration

THE daughter of one frustrated patient whose cataract operation was rescheduled twice following the pay dispute - reported on page one - before being re-booked for today, contacted the Shuttle/Times and News.

Wendy Huntley's 89-year-old mum, Ellen Jackson, who lives at The Shrubbery Nursing Home in Kidderminster, was due to have her operation tomorrow until her daughter was notified the operation would be carried out on Thursday, March 25.

The procedure had already been rescheduled once because staff decided the pensioner, who has arthritis in her spine, could not lie down.

Before she was notified of her mum's latest appointment, Mrs Huntley said: "She's getting to the point where she says 'I'm not bothered whether I have it or not'.

"You can imagine how depressing this is for her."