600-mile round trip pensioner defends care at Royal Free - Cornishman Brian Ivory finds hospital's services 'to his liking'

Published: 09 June 2011
by TOM FOOT

LEGEND has it that a mythical giant named Cormoran once lived on St Michael’s Mount off the Cornwall coast, wading ashore at low tides to steal cows and sheep from the villagers to feed his gargantuan appetite. 

Steeped in religious and spiritual history, the landmark has become a popular pilgrimage destination throughout the ages.

But Brian Ivory, whose Marazion home looks out to the historic castle, likes to make a journey of his own, in the opposite direction –  to the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead.

Despite the barrage of negative headlines it has suffered in recent weeks, retired surgical chiropodist Mr Ivory, 77, has found the services on offer at the Hampstead NHS Trust to his liking. 

He said he has had “no qualms” about making the 600-mile round trip more than 15 times in the past couple of years.

“It’s a long way from Penzance to Paddington on the Great Western [railway],” he said. “But I’ve still got my life – and that’s thanks to the Royal Free. I think it’s marvellous.”

Mr Ivory was told in 2009 he could not get a liver transplant at his local NHS hospital in Cornwall, 25 miles away from his home in Truro. Weeks later, while on a cruise in Turkey, he collapsed and was rushed to a hospital in Istanbul for a life-saving emergency operation.

Back in Cornwall, he was told once again that the specialist services he needed were not available. But under NHS reforms, patients can now book themselves into any NHS hospital in the country. So, Mr Ivory contacted the Royal Free and got through to one of the foremost liver transplant surgeons in the country, Professor Brian Davidson.

Mr Ivory said: “He said I should come down here, ‘I’ll take a look at you’. 

“So I jumped on the train. I liked to travel first class. It would be £285, but if you book in advance it’s £35 for a single.

“I got to see him in a very short time so I was very lucky. They found a holy trinity of problems. I’ve had my operation now but I still like to go back there for my check-ups. I wouldn’t go anywhere else.

“What interests me is that there are all these very rich people paying huge sums for the same treatment as me – going private. But for me I can see the same people and it’s free on the NHS.”

Mr Ivory, who is selling his “mansion” property in Marazion, contacted the New Journal after reading about the recent Care Quality Commission inspection of treatment of elderly patients at the Royal Free.

The negative publicity had stretched to the farthest corners of the country and Mr Ivory, who used to live in Harrow, wanted to set the record straight.

He added: “I was dismayed to hear on the radio and read in the newspapers that RFH is one of three badly rated hospitals with regard to care of patients. I can only say that my entire treatment by all staff, from floor cleaners to consultants, was excellent. 

“I was then coaxed back onto solid food with an excellent choice of very well-prepared and cooked foods.”