A MAN whose vital heart surgery has been cancelled TEN times due to bed shortages at York Hospital was today due to go under the knife.

Widower Stanley Spencer, 60, thought his 18-month wait for a heart bypass was over when he was admitted to the hospital on March 21. But the life-saving op was delayed ten times, and today Mr Spencer was waiting to see if surgery scheduled for this afternoon would finally go ahead.

In the past, he has got to within 20 minutes of going down to the operating theatre before the surgery was called off because of a lack of beds in the hospital's Intensive Care Unit.

"I'm in limbo. It's very frustrating, but it's just as frustrating for the hospital staff and the surgeons as it is for me," he said.

"They want more beds but their hands are tied."

Mr Spencer has two aneurysms, which are balloon-like swellings, in the wall of two of his arteries, the aorta and the artery going to his spleen. Without surgery they could burst at any time, killing him within minutes.

The problem was discovered when Mr Spencer, a retired blacksmith, was receiving treatment for prostate cancer.

"If I was Tony Blair or someone like that, a place would be found straight away," he said.

Mr Spencer, whose wife, Christine ,died of liver cancer five years ago, used to live in Copmanthorpe, York, but he moved to Lincolnshire just before Christmas.

A spokeswoman for York Hospitals NHS Trust said the trust wished to apologise to Mr Spencer.

She said: "Mr Spencer's operation requires an intensive care bed to be immediately available after surgery. We would never compromise the safety of a patient when there are no intensive care beds available.

"We are currently recruiting to ensure that the new seventh intensive care bed will be open permanently. Critical care in York is planned to undergo further expansion over the next two to three years."

"Priority for intensive care beds has to be given to emergency admissions. A life threatening injury coming into the hospital can lead to the postponement of a planned surgical procedure. We will always seek to minimise this impact on patients."

Updated: 10:46 Monday, April 19, 2004