Farmer with giant hernia will 'use up savings' going private after five year wait for NHS operation

Granada Reports correspondent Rob Smith talks to Winston Baldwin about his five year wait for a hernia operation on the NHS.

A former dairy farmer from Crewe, who has been waiting for an NHS operation to fix a hernia for almost five years says he has been let down by the NHS and will now have to go private.

Winston Baldwin, 75, has been living with a triple hernia since 2019 which has grown so large he can now barely walk and has moved to a care home.

His story has been featured on ITV Granada Reports four times, ever since his treatment was delayed in 2019 during Covid.

In 2022, Winston was told his hernia was too large to be operated on, but there was a glimmer of hope in March 2023 when two surgeons from Arrowe Park hospital on the Wirral got in touch to say they could operate.

Almost a year on though, Winston is still waiting, despite having a number of pre-operation appointments.

Now he is going to finance the surgery himself, he said: "I will go private, if it takes all my money I'm going private."

"Possibly in London, possibly in Oxford, possibly in Bristol, and I'll take my chances there."

Winston said he hopes to have the surgery as soon as possible.

Previously, a Wirral University Teaching Hospital spokesperson said: "We can confirm our surgeons reached out to Mr Baldwin to offer their clinical expertise in order to help.

"Due to reasons of patient confidentiality, we are unable to comment further."

It comes as a major review of the health service has found the NHS is in a "critical condition" and the health of the nation has "deteriorated" over the last 15 years.

Speaking at an event in London on Thursday, the prime minister said: "The NHS is at a fork in the road, and we have a choice about how it should meet these rising demands.

"Raise taxes on working people to meet the ever-higher costs of an ageing population - or reform to secure its future.

"We know working people can't afford to pay more, so it's reform or die."

Sir Keir Starmer announced the government is working on a ten year plan with three key areas for reform - the transition to a digital NHS, moving more care from hospitals to communities, and focusing efforts on prevention over sickness.

Earlier this year, Granada Reports asked Sir Keir about Winston's five year wait for a hernia operation and he said it was a "shocking indictment" of NHS waiting lists.

At his carehome in Crewe, WInston says reform of the NHS is essential: "Some areas of the NHS are very broken, some areas are good."

"I feel the NHS does need tweaking, reforming, improving and it's not going to be a ten year plan, it's going to be forever."

"You don't steer a ship by looking at the stars, you do it by steering."

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