A photographer from the Evening Express who was minutes away from a major brain operation has relived the moment he was told how a hospital blunder forced it to be cancelled.

Alan Paterson, picture editor at the Aberdeen-based newspaper, has now received a personal apology from NHS Grampian general manager Alisdair Chisholm over the mistake.

The 47-year-old had been on a trolley in a pre-op room at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary when it was discovered that the surgical tools which were to be used during the procedure were contaminated.

He had been nervously waiting for an operation on a form of brain tumour in his inner ear.

A team of 30 medics had to be stood down from theatre and the operation re-scheduled for May 1.

Alan told HoldtheFrontPage: "I was taken down for the operation just before 9am and was lying on the trolley, all wired up to heart and blood pressure monitors, when they told me there was a problem with some of the equipment.

"It was very last minute and the last thing I thought was going to happen before a major ten to 12-hour operation.

"You build yourself up for it and the worst thing is potentially saying goodbye to your family, hoping that it's going to be okay, and now I've got to go through that again."

The operation had to be cancelled after three separate sets of surgical tools, taken from sterilised packets, were checked with a scanner and found to be contaminated.

It could not be rescheduled for the same day because it would have taken four hours to clean the equipment.

Alan has since received a letter of apology from the hospital and a personal phone call from NHS Grampian boss Alisdair Chisholm.

Alan said: "He apologised unreservedly and admitted that it was the hospital's fault.

"On the back of this they have bought two more sets of tools for the operation."