Southend man diagnosed with cancer after postal delays

Summarised from Echo (Basildon)'s report · Updated 9 Oct, 07:07 · Archive

A Southend man was diagnosed with cancer the day before receiving his NHS appointment letter due to Royal Mail delays.

Doug Hoare from Eastern Esplanade, Southend, attended an NHS appointment on Tuesday after receiving a text reminder from the NHS, unaware of the appointment's location. He was diagnosed with cancer at the hospital. The following day, he discovered that his appointment letter had been posted 14 days earlier, arriving with six other letters all dated more than a week before.

Mr Hoare said the delay was "beyond the pale" because had he relied on the post, he would have missed the appointment and been unaware of his condition. The letter urged him to inform the NHS if unable to attend, warning that missed appointments cost £138 each. His postman told him the service was "understaffed". Royal Mail apologised to Mr Hoare and acknowledged that its service needed to improve, citing recent statistics showing significant improvement in next working day delivery for first-class mail in the last quarter. Residents across Southend have raised persistent concerns about medical appointments and important documents arriving late.

Read the report

• Southend man diagnosed with cancer before Royal Mail delivered NHS letterA Southend man was shocked to receive an appointment reminder the day after being diagnosed with cancer because of postal delays.Echo (Basildon) · 9 Oct, 04:00

In this story: Doug Hoare · Southend · Royal Mail · NHS

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