The distress of a patient whose hip replacement operation he was twice forced to cancel, yesterday led Gwent surgeon Witek Mintowt-Czyz to brand the NHS "cruel and inhuman."

He explained all to health reporter Andy Rutherford

WITEK Mintowt-Czyz is unfazed by the attention his stinging criticism of the National Health Service has attracted.

An orthopaedic surgeon in Gwent for 15 years, he has, he says, seen waiting lists and times grow too long, seen too many patients endure the pain and upset of cancelled operations to remain silent.

"It is common for patients to wait six years after a GP's referral, before they are treated. It is completely unacceptable," he said.

"My waiting list for an outpatient appointment is about three years. When they get to see me and I find they need an operation, the inpatient waiting list is also about three years.

"Orthopaedics has been underfunded for years and we only have about half the resources we need. There are 60-65 orthopaedic surgeons in Wales, but we need 100-120.

"There is one surgeon for every 50,000 people in Gwent, which is better than when I started in 1985, when it was one for every 120,000.

"But in Sweden and France it is one surgeon for every 20,000 people, and on the east coast of the USA, one for every 10,000."

Mr Mintowt-Czyz recently had to cancel twice at short notice a hip replacement operation for a patient, Beth Marshall from New Inn. He offered to write to her MP and Assembly Member to highlight her plight and that of an NHS he fears cannot cope.

"I get regular correspondence from AMs and MPs asking when constituents will be treated and I always make the same plea - give us the tools and we will do the job," said Mr Mintowt-Czyz.

"It has been like beating my head against a brick wall, so this time I have asked them what they propose to do about it. We need massive, long-term investment, over decades, because there aren't the orthopaedic surgeons out there.

"Precious few are being trained and it takes 14 years from recruiting a medical student to creating an orthopaedic surgeon.

"Orthopaedics is not a 'sexy' speciality. Last year in England, 50 training places were allocated in orthopaedics. Wales got nothing. We do not even have a professor of orthopaedics.

"It is the biggest single surgical specialty and a post like that would be important for the training of students and for influence in the corridors of power. But no-one will fund it."

It is rare for a surgeon to speak out as bluntly as Mr Mintowt-Czyz, but he feels nothing meaningful is being done to address the problems facing orthopaedics and the NHS in general. "Under previous governments we had cuts after cuts under the guise of cost improvements. The current government has done little to change things." he said.