A DIABETIC patient whose follow-up appointments were cancelled repeatedly has been told his pancreas has deteriorated and he will now need to inject insulin.

Ian McLaren's consultant at Gartnavel General in Glasgow originally told him he wanted to see him back in his clinic within four months.

But, as health board NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde prepared to move a wide range of services into the controversial Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, Mr McLaren's appointments were set back twice.

When he was finally seen after a nine-month gap he was told his pancreas had suffered "burn out".

Mr McLaren, 69 from Bearsden, said: "I do not know if the news would have been different if I was seen quicker. I am a professional but I am not a medical person. But it is really upsetting."

The retired chartered accountant's last routine appointment was in October last year. During this consultation his doctor told him he wanted to review his condition in four months, rather than the usual six, and gave him an appointment for January 25. However, at the start of this year Mr McLaren said he received a letter delaying the appointment to April, with no explanation.

Then in March another letter arrived, this time postponing the appointment until August.

A the start of July a further letter arrived, this time bringing the consultation forward to Tuesday July 14.

Mr McLaren said: "I spoke to the consultant and asked what on earth was going on. I said, 'you told me in October you wanted to see me in January and I have been quite concerned about it'.

"My own doctor had told me my blood sugar levels were going up quite dramatically and nothing was being done about it."

Mr McLaren said he was informed the delays were linked to junior staff moving to the new, recently renamed, Queen Elizabeth University Hospital "leaving a shortage of people taking blood and urine samples and doing other routine work".

It is understood extra clinics have been scheduled at Gartnavel in the evenings to address the potential backlog.

Mr McLaren questioned how long patients with less urgent health problems than him were waiting to be seen, adding: "It is just another symptom of there not being enough nurses and not enough junior staff."

In a statement NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said: "The migration of clinical services to the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital coincided with the major service redesign of a number of medical specialties.

"This led to significant changes to consultant job plans and the restructuring of existing clinical services including outpatient clinics.

"Clinics can be rescheduled for a number of reasons, however any disruption of clinical service was kept to an absolute minimum through additional evening clinics.

"NHSGGC’s Diabetic Service is well resourced and is supported by a number of Clinical Nurse Specialists. Patients are provided with contact details enabling them to directly access the service easily."

The Gartnavel campus, where Mr McLaren was seen, is also home to the Beatson West of Scotland Cancer Centre.

In July cancer patients who were receiving treatment in the new hospital had to be sent back to The Beatson because routine monitoring had discovered a problem with the air quality.