A doctor sparked a social media row today by suggesting Princess Kate would have been chucked out of an NHS hospital within a day.
Prolific X user @EmergMedDr, who has consistently backed NHS strike action to his tens of thousands of followers, was accused of trying to make a ‘political point’.
Writing on the platform, formerly known as Twitter, he said: ‘Kate will stay in hospital for up to 14 days after her surgery.
‘Meanwhile, in the NHS you have your surgery and are sent home 1-2 days later.’
Dr Mike, as he is known on social media, said discharged patients would also get a ‘photo of what wound infection looks like and maybe one wound dressing’.
The Princess of Wales, 42, is recovering in hospital after planned abdominal surgery on Tuesday at the London Clinic in Marylebone.
It is understood that her condition is ‘non-cancerous’.
But exact details have not been released by Kensington Palace, who announced the bombshell news yesterday. A source told the Mail Kate is ‘doing well’.
She will remain in the private hospital for about a fortnight and will be given time to recover at home.
Kate has canceled her planned engagements and foreign travel and is unlikely to resume public duties until after Easter.
Dr Mike, who has claimed to work for the NHS in the past, was immediately labelled ‘irresponsible’ for making light of the Princess’ condition.
One user said: ‘A professional doctor, unaware of either the exact detail or nature of the Princess of Wales’s diagnosis, would not use the trauma of one patient to score childish and purely speculative political points about the treatment of others.’
Meanwhile, another wrote: ‘How irresponsible of you as a doctor to cast aspersions on a patient when you have no knowledge of what treatment and care she needs.’
The doctor, however, clarified his concern over the way the health service often discharges patients ‘when they would probably benefit from a longer stay’.
He added: ‘Many people with serious illnesses and post-surgery are sent home too quick.
‘I see them returning just hours later to the emergency department sometimes extremely unwell.’
Each hospital has its own discharge policy, but under general guidance, patients should be reviewed twice daily to see if they can go home.
Even after major surgery, hospital chiefs are instructed to assess whether patients need to still be in the hospital after around three days.
Discharge times relate to the issue of bed-blockers — the term used to describe patients occupying a hospital bed that they don’t strictly need.
Some patients are left stuck on wards for months.
This is usually because the NHS hasn’t been able to organise the next stage of their care, so it’s not safe to discharge them.
In a second tweet hours later, after it was revealed King Charles would be taking a short break from duties for treatment for an enlarged prostate, Dr Mike said: ‘How strange that Kate reveals she is in hospital and it’s breaking news and then within minutes the King announces he is getting prostate treatment and now he is the top story.
‘Nobody puts Baby in the corner, I guess.’
Responding to his tweet, Dr Katie Cairns, who claims to be a GP in Belfast, agreed ‘something weird is going on’ and accused The Palace of creating ‘a diversion’.
While The Palace would not reveal any details in respect of Kate’s ‘medical privacy’, it did not rule out the prospect that she may choose to speak publicly about it herself in the future.
Writing for the Daily Mai, GP Dr Martin Scurr said: ‘These days, spending up to two weeks recuperating in hospital, even a private one, is becoming increasingly rare.
‘But it is reassuring that this was a planned operation and not an emergency.
‘This would have minimised the possibility of any untoward complications.’
Elective abdominal surgery among women in their early 40s, however, is ‘quite uncommon’, he noted.
But it could include an appendectomy, gallstones, or a hysterectomy. Ovarian cysts also require surgical removal, he added.
‘At times, surgery is required for the repair of a hernia, and even young, fit muscular women may develop these,’ he said.
Kate’s return to official duties will depend on medical advice closer to the time but she is not expected to return to public events until after Easter.
