The case of nine-year-old Harry Jowett, who encountered repeated delays at Bradford Royal Infirmary after he injured his finger in an accident and needed an operation to repair it, is on the face of things quite appalling. It is small wonder the child, who suffers from autism, was in distress. Not only did he go through the trauma of trapping his finger in a door at his school, but he then had to be taken back to the hospital on three days and had to endure 14 hours without food before his injury could be stitched.

The hospital has apologised and says the delay was caused by a large number of patients in more urgent need of treatment. It might help to ease the upset of Harry and his family, and help them to better understand its predicament, if it was more specific (without breaching patient confidentiality) and if it had also been able to explain why there was a lack of theatre space.

In an ideal world everyone who needs to attend Accident and Emergency should be able to be treated without delay, and certainly without having to be sent home to return later. Unfortunately the world of hospitals at present seems to be far from ideal, largely because of a shortage of resources, and staff have to do the best that they can in the circumstances.

Hospital staff have a tough enough job at the best of times without having to repeatedly cope with understandably distressed patients who have been told their treatment cannot go ahead.