A man who had surgery to remove a suspected cancerous tumour cancelled four times has been admitted for the operation on Wednesday.

David Thompson, from New Inn near Pontypool, could not have the operation because of a bed shortage and had been told it would not take place until the New Year.

Mr Thompson is at Royal Gwent Hospital

But Mr Thompson's family confirmed that he had been taken in to the Royal Gwent Hospital for exploratory surgery at 1100 GMT and was expected to remain in theatre for up to eight hours.

Mr Thompsons daughter Leanne said her father would not have had the surgery if it was not for "all the publicity and help our family has received".

The delay had been blamed on a shortage of intensive care beds at the Royal Gwent Hospital in Newport.

Mr Thompson was diagnosed with a tumour on his pancreas after suffering from jaundice.

He was due to have a pancreatic duodectomy - a surgical procedure to remove the tumour - on 5 December.

Postponed

But a shortage of beds meant the operation was cancelled.

The surgery was postponed a further three times on the 9, 11 and 12 December.

Mr Thompson said: "You build yourself up to something like this.

"To have it pulled away from you is terrible.

"But, I'm not the only one, I met a patient from Chepstow who had been in four times and sent home three.

"And three others were sent home with me - all because there's no intensive care beds," he said.

In a statement, Gwent Healthcare NHS Trust said: "Postponing an operation is something we always try not to do but sometimes it is inevitable because of the ever-increasing demands of emergencies on resources and beds.

"The ICU unit at the Royal Gwent Hospital has been at capacity due to emergencies that require immediate attention.

"Every effort is made to ensure that patients like Mr Thompson who have their operations postponed, are treated as quickly as possible afterwards as beds become available."

Shortages

In October BBC NewsOnline reported that the Royal Gwent Hospital was forced to cancel orthopaedic operations because of bed shortages.

A second patient at the Royal Gwent has also had his operation to remove a growth delayed because of bed shortages.

Christopher Morgan, from Portskewett near Chepstow, was diagnosed with a tumour in his bile duct.

He was first admitted to the hospital in November and told that surgery was needed to remove the growth and discover if it was malignant.

However, after returning to the hospital on 11 December, he was told his operation had to be postponed because of a lack of intensive care beds.

He has called for dedicated intensive care beds for surgical cases to be made available to the Royal Gwent Hospital.