A patient waited in hospital all morning for an ankle operation before being told the essential equipment to proceed was not available.

Dale Harris, 24, of Nelson Road, Basildon, needed surgery at Orsett Hospital on his ankle after breaking it in a football tackle.

Although the fracture has now healed, there is a lump of floating bone and ligament damage.

Estate agent Dale, who went on to the waiting list nine months ago, said surgeon Iain Lennox told him because of the delay in operating, arthritis had already set in the joint.

He arrived at the hospital at 7.30am and was gowned up ready for theatre.

He was told he was second on the list but after waiting for more than five hours, he was told there had been complications and equipment due to be used on him was no longer available.

Dale said: "Nothing was said to me about what to do so I went home and phoned Mr Lennox's secretary.

"After leaving four messages on the answering machine, I finally got through the fifth time and was told Mr Lennox would be in contact.

"I cannot get my head around how they can possibly run out of equipment."

After the Evening Echo contacted the hospital, Dale received a phone call and his operation was due to go ahead today.

Pat Trinnaman, head of communications for Basildon and Thurrock General Hospitals NHS Trust, said the reason his operation was cancelled was because the operation on the previous patient had taken longer than originally anticipated and they had run out of operating time.

Published Tuesday, March 26, 2002