" Canceled operation after 3 hours prepped to go for surgery at Derriford"

I am in the military and 3 months ago sustained an orthopaedic injury that required surgery. I waited for an operation date and I attended Derriford Hospital yesterday January 2008 for my surgery. I waited 4 hours for them to find me a bed and then after another 4 hours of waiting, in a surgical gown, clerked and marked and nervously awaiting to go to theatre I was simply told my operation was canceled and told to phone the Consultants secretary the following day to re book another date as they had problems with the theatre equipment. I have today been given another surgery date in 6 weeks time. I felt disgusted with the way I was treated in Derriford Hospital. I have experienced the hospital as a member of staff and as a patient now. The wards seem understaffed, over stretched and it will not be long before a major incident causes the hierarchy to look what is REALLY happening in the hospital. The staff are overworked, underpaid and in my opinion under massive pressure day in day out. I think the individual staff who work on the wards are fantastic but the system seems so over stretched that it seems impossible to cope with the demand and could be down right dangerous.