Navy Neil Wogan veteran raided his pension to pay privately for lifesaving heart surgery after being told he would have to wait several months for it on the NHS as he grew weaker
A Navy veteran has told how he has had to raid his pension to pay privately for heart surgery because he feared he would die on the NHS waiting list.
Ex-weapons engineer Neil Wogan, 52, says doctors told him he urgently needed open heart surgery but would have to wait several months for it on the NHS. The Police Community Support Officer was diagnosed last summer after the Tories had overseen a trebling of the NHS waiting list in England. The married father-of-two from Wigan will now have to retire later after raiding £25,000 from his pension pot to go private for the op.
Neil said: “Before the surgery, I felt like a ticking time bomb, and that at any moment, my heart could fail. Every night I went to sleep thinking I might never wake up. For nearly 30 years, I’ve served my country working for the Navy, my local council and for the police so I honestly feel really let down by the system.”
The NHS waiting list hit a record high in September 2023, with 7.77 million treatments, and has been up and down since then. Waits for operations have been on a steady upward trajectory since 2010 when the Tories came to power when the elective waiting list in England stood at 2.5 million appointments.
Neil went to his GP in May 2023 as he had a feeling of tight pressure in his chest and had an ECG within a few weeks. However there was an initial delay finding out if it had identified a problem and he had to wait four months to see a cardiologist. Before he could be seen Neil deteriorated and he was rushed to A&E in July 2023 and spent a week in hospital. He was diagnosed with heart valve disease and told he urgently needed open heart surgery to replace his failing aortic valve with a mechanical one.
He told the Mirror: “The doctor told me my aortic valve was failing and I needed major lifesaving surgery. My mind just went blank and I just wanted to speak to my wife and my two boys. Later over the phone I was told I would be lucky to be seen by Christmas. I just felt I couldn’t wait that long because I could feel myself getting weaker. I could feel it in my breathing and the colour in my face was draining. I thought I might not make Christmas.”
Since 2019, the rate of people dying prematurely from cardiovascular disease has risen to the highest level in over a decade. Latest figures show that an average of 750 people a week aged 75 or under died from cardiovascular disease in England in 2023. BHF modelling suggests there could be 11,000 more premature deaths in 2035 in England based on current trends.
Neil was in the Navy for four years before working for his local council and then joining the police. He decided to have his operation privately and drew money from his personal pension fund. His surgery was then scheduled for just a few weeks later in mid-September.
Neil added: “I don’t know when I’m going to retire now but whichever way you look at it I’m £25,000 down. We think there’s a system there for when we become unwell and that we can get the surgery we need to help make us better. The NHS was good for me once I was in… they need more resources.”
Latest NHS figures show the cardiovascular care waiting list in England is at a near-record high of over 420,000. Around 40% of those waiting for time-sensitive heart care are waiting longer than the target treatment time of 18 weeks from referral, with around 9,000 waiting over a year.
Overall the NHS waiting list for planned hospital treatment in England fell for the fourth month in a row. An estimated 7.46 million treatments were waiting to be carried out at the end of December, relating to 6.24 million patients – down from 7.48 million treatments and 6.28 million patients at the end of November. These are the lowest figures since April 2023.
It comes as the British Heart Foundation and over 40 other leading organisations are demanding a National Cardiovascular Disease Plan from Government in a consensus statement published today. Cardiovascular disease causes a quarter of all deaths in the UK, and its healthcare costs are an estimated £12 billion a year and the statement says this is a “major factor in the UK’s faltering economic performance.”
Dr Charmaine Griffiths, chief executive at the BHF, said: “There’s an unprecedented crisis in heart and stroke care. Neil’s story is a harsh and heartbreaking reminder that behind the huge waiting list numbers, far too many people are suffering physically and emotionally. Fixing this needs a National Cardiovascular Disease Plan to get the nation’s heart health back on track and save thousands of lives.”
