A POOLE man has hit out at the NHS after he chose to go private and fork out more than £2,000 in order to repair his son-in-law's broken arm.

On four separate occasions Neil Berry was prepared for theatre at Poole hospital but was stood down at the last minute.

The 19-year-old spent a full week anxiously awaiting the vital operation after sustaining multiple fractures in his right arm during a motocross event in Salisbury.

He went without food for four of these days and after the disappointment of his last cancellation his 19-year-old wife Carla and her family decided to look to alternative measures.

In a dramatic bid to provide his son-in-law with the care he needed Dennis Drayson contacted the Harbour Hospital in Poole for private treatment.

The 56-year-old from Branksome stumped up some £2,000 and Neil was admitted, operated on and discharged the following day.

While Dennis is relieved Neil has undergone his operation and is now on the road to recovery he is furious Neil did not receive the expected service from the NHS.

Outraged, he even plans to write a letter of complaint to his local MP and the Prime Minister to express his disappointment.

"He was taken to the hospital in Salisbury and plastered up so they could transport him to Poole where they were waiting to operate," said Dennis. "A week later he was still lying in Poole hospital.

"You cannot leave a boy of 19 with multiple fractures day after day. It is incomprehensible. I am outraged that Neil was left in an NHS bed untreated for seven days."

He added: "I shouldn't have had to pay that money but we were left with no option."

A spokesman for Poole NHS Trust said they were unable to comment on individual cases but they always do everything they can not to cancel patients' operations.

"As the trauma centre for the whole of Poole and Bournemouth we never know what is going to happen," she said. "And when road traffic accidents happen and the people involved need to go to theatre straight away in order to survive, then regrettably, a patient who is stable may need to have their operation re-scheduled."

She added: "It is always regrettable when an operation has to be cancelled but the care of the patient is always a priority and any decision to re-schedule an operation is taken with great care and thought."