COMPENSATION of £24,000 has been awarded to a Colwall man who spent a year in a wheelchair after routine surgery.

An infection Derek Turner, 67, contracted after a hip replacement operation at Worcestershire Royal Hospital was not spotted until it was almost too late. He endured three more operations and a year without a hip joint, unable to walk.

The infection was contracted after Mike Trevett operated to replace his hip in March 2002.

He suffered pain in the joint and could hardly stand but, in October, a second operation was carried out on his other hip.

Still in pain, he returned to the hospital several times to see different consultants and had three tests, which he paid for privately, but the infection was not diagnosed.

In April 2003 he was rushed to hospital with septicaemia and an eight-pint abscess was found between the base of his spine and his knee.

He spent a month in hospital and after returning home, still with a drain in the abscess, asked for a second opinion from Oswestry Orthopaedic Hospital where Prof James Richardson told him he would die unless the infection was controlled.

He spent six weeks in Oswestry and had a major operation to remove the infection and hip joint, later returning for a second procedure to remove muscles killed by the infection.

He lost five stones and spent a year in an armchair before a final operation to replace his hip.

The retired chartered accountant will only ever have 80 per cent mobility in his hip but has returned to his passions - walking and golf.

Mr Turner said he decided to sue Worcestershire NHS Acute Hospitals Trust for negligence after it refused to apologise.

"Originally, when all this blew up in April 2003 all I wanted was for somebody to apologise for making such a mess and repay me the fees I paid privately for three tests I would have waited 12 months for on the NHS," he said.

Trust chief executive John Rostill said the care was not the standard Mr Turner was entitled to.

"He took the trust to court and a settlement has been made, following which I wrote him a letter of apology. I reiterate that all the clinicians and staff involved in Mr Turner's care offer their sincere apologies."