Boy, three, missed vital surgery after Royal Mail failed to deliver appointment letter

Beleaguered company launches investigation into Cheshire delivery office after NHS letters go undelivered

Royal Mail delays caused a three-year-old boy to miss vital chest surgery, it has emerged.
The beleaguered company has been forced to apologise and launch an investigation into its Winsford delivery office in Cheshire after multiple NHS letters went undelivered.
In what is the latest case of delays to postal services, Jasmine Moulton was informed by hospital staff in January that her son Joshua, three, had missed scheduled surgery to help his breathing and swallowing problems.
She had also missed medical appointments for her five-year-old daughter Harper, whose limbs have to be wrapped in bandages because of severe skin allergies.
She was informed by phone call of the missed surgery at the start of the year, after Royal Mail had failed to deliver letters from NHS trusts about both appointments. This was despite the Winsford depot being just four miles from her house.
“I was like, ‘pardon?’ And I was in a bit of shock. I explained that we hadn’t had any post come through. She sounded shocked,” Ms Moulton told BBC Panorama of her call with the hospital, while her son Joshua coughed and wheezed.
In a tearful interview with the programme, she added: “It’s just so frustrating. On top of being a mum to two children with… It stresses me out every day because I just think, how many other appointments have we missed? And just not knowing when we’re going to be able to move on. And seeing him suffering.”
Royal Mail has apologised to the family for the failings and is investigating the Winsford office as “a priority”.
Jenny Hall, director of corporate affairs at Royal Mail, told Ms Moulton: “I have young children myself and I know that must be hugely stressful for you.”
The courier is facing mounting criticism for delays to its service in recent months. It was fined £5.6 million by the regulator Ofcom in November for failing to meet its Universal Service Obligation to deliver 93 per cent of first-class post within one day of collection, and 98.5 per cent of second-class post within three working days.
In December, a Telegraph survey revealed that almost half of Royal Mail customers had experienced delays in 2023.
In an investigation airing on BBC One at 8pm on Monday titled Royal Mail: Where’s My Post?, BBC Panorama found multiple people, including cancer patients, turning up at the Winsford delivery office enquiring about missing post.
Current and former Royal Mail staff across the country told the programme that parcels were being prioritised over letters in sorting offices.
One former Royal Mail area manager, who recently left the company, said he and managers “knew that [they] were letting customers down and there was no hiding from it” as he instructed postal staff to leave letters behind for weeks on end because of staff shortages.
He said it was “impossible” that Royal Mail bosses did not know this was happening in normal times, outside of busy Christmas and holiday periods, as “everyone all the way up the chain was reporting those failures [and] was saying this is what we’re prioritising”.
The company, which made a £419 million loss last year, is facing the challenge of balancing its six-day weekly letter targets with expanding into the profitable parcel sector.
Ms Hall added that it was sometimes “logistically necessary” to move the parcels before letters, saying: “However, it should not be happening as a matter of course. What should not be happening is that sort of instruction.”