Battle over NHS treatment

The political battle over a pensioner's shoulder operation threatened to turn into a full-scale war today.

Grandmother Margaret Dixon had her much-needed operation cancelled seven times and was the subject of a fierce Commons debate yesterday.

Today politicians were falling over themselves to use it to further their own NHS agendas.

Health Secretary John Reid cleared his diary and dashed off to Warrington, the centre of the row. He was planning to boost staff morale at the hospital which repeatedly put Mrs Dixon off despite her constant pain.

Yet as Dr Reid headed north Mrs Dixon's family were making their way in the opposite direction to Downing Street.

The 69-year-old's ordeal was spotlighted by Conservative leader Michael Howard during Prime Minister's Questions yesterday. Mrs Dixon has a heart condition and has been told her chances of surviving surgery on her arm and shoulder are 30-70.

Nevertheless her operation, first scheduled for last November, has continually been cancelled at the last minute because of a lack of intensive care beds.

Today both Labour and the Conservatives unleashed the full force of their spin machines in response to the case, with the Tories seeking to maximise the embarrassment to the Government.

In London, Mr Howard and his wife Sandra welcomed Mrs Dixon's husband and daughter into their Pimlico home. They discussed Mrs Dixon's plight over cups of tea.

Flanked by Mr Howard and shadow health secretary Andrew Lansley, Lindsay and Kenneth Dixon then appeared at a press conference where they lambasted her treatment.

The pair then went to Downing Street to deliver a letter to the Prime Minister.

The Conservatives also dispatched a team of press officers to Warrington, who were stationed at Mrs Dixon's home. Mrs Dixon herself did not make the trip to London because of her condition.

After his a 400-mile trip to Warrington General Hospital, Dr Reid planned to pose for pictures with smiling NHS staff and patients happy with their treatment.

He was also expected to pay a personal visit to Mrs Dixon - after the Tories released a letter, signed by Mrs Dixon but written in a different hand - inviting him to her home.

In a damage limitation exercise, Dr Reid also appealed to patients with serious grievances about their NHS treatment to write to him personally. Embarrassingly, however, the Dixons revealed that they had written to him personally in January and were still awaiting a reply.

As the farce escalated, the family insisted they were not being exploited by the parties. Mrs Dixon's daughter Lindsay said: " We strongly resent being described by a Labour spokesman as a political pawn. This is not a game. It is about my mother's life. It is first and foremost about getting my mum and operation to give her some quality of life."

They stressed that they had nothing but praise for NHS doctors and nurses.

Mrs Dixon has now been given a new date for admittance to hospital, in three weeks' time. However, there is not yet any fixed date for her operation, which hinges on whether an intensive care bed is free at the same time as a surgeon, and an anaesthetist, are available.