Royal Navy veteran forced to raid pension for life-saving heart surgery – I had no choice but to go private

26 February 2025, 00:01 | Updated: 26 February 2025, 09:55

I’ve always been fit and healthy. As a Police Community Support Officer, I do a lot of walking, so I never thought there could be something wrong with my heart.

It was early 2023 when I regularly had a funny feeling in my chest. I put it down to stress – it had been a tough year. But when that feeling didn’t go away, I saw my GP who referred me for an ECG, an electrocardiogram.

I had the test quickly, but I had to wait for an appointment with a cardiologist to find out the results.

I waited, and I waited, but no appointment came through. It got to July, and I still hadn’t heard anything, and by this time the pressure in my chest was painful. One morning, the pain was so bad that I went to A&E – a last resort.

I was there for about 24 hours, but the staff were brilliant. In the end, I was admitted to a ward for five days.

After a series of tests, they told me that one of my heart valves was failing, and I would need open heart surgery. When the doctor told me that, I felt like I’d just run into a brick wall.

I couldn’t believe it. Before I could make sense of it, they discharged me and said I’d have to wait for an appointment with a surgeon.

I had to be signed off work as my health was getting worse and worse. When I met the surgeon, he couldn’t tell me when my operation would be. It took another few weeks for someone to finally admit that I’d be lucky to get surgery that year.

I was shocked – I could be waiting many months. I felt like a ticking time bomb and that at any point my heart could fail.

That was when I decided to go private.

I’m not someone who likes to spend money, and I knew I’d have to retire later because I had to take the £25,531 out of my pension fund.

But I was desperate. I’m really proud of the decision I made, not just for me but for my family. It wasn’t until after the operation that I finally got invited for an appointment to discuss the ECG I’d had in May four months earlier.

Who knows what could have happened if I had waited all that time.

I’ve served my country for nearly 30 years in the Navy, for the local council and now for the police.

I’ve helped a lot of people, so I feel the system has let me down.

That’s why I’m supporting the British Heart Foundation’s Hearts Need More to fix the crisis in cardiovascular care.

I don’t want anybody else to be in the position I was in where I felt forced to pay for surgery to save my life.

Neil Wogan is a current Police Community Support Officer and proud former Royal Navy weapons engineer.

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