‘Covid stopped my life-saving operation’

Lara Wahab has type 1 diabetes and needs a life-saving kidney and pancreas transplant.

But despite matching organs being found, she says her hospital couldn’t do the operation because no intensive care beds were available.

The 34-year-old from Crouch End, north London, had been told the wait would be about 12-15 months, but disruption to the NHS due to the Covid-19 pandemic means she’s been waiting for more than two years.

Lara thanked “amazing” NHS staff, but blames unvaccinated people for taking up beds. She says those who can be vaccinated should have the Covid jab, or risk using hospital resources that others need.

Figures from last month showed 825 out of 3,480 patients in intensive care beds across England had Covid – with most of these people unvaccinated.

Sara Randall, chief operating officer at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: “Our clinical teams make every effort to secure an Intensive Care Unit bed post-transplant. Any decision not to proceed with an operation is considered very carefully.”

Video by Jamie Moreland

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