Patients who need jointreplacements have had referrals to a privately-owned Hertfordshire clinic postponed while the NHS addresses managerial concerns.
The East and North Hertfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) said it had dropped referrals of jointreplacements, which were the "most complex surgical treatments" handled at the centre.
"With so many people getting jointreplacements, even at younger ages, they may not realize when they walk in that hospital door that this can happen to them, " Ms. Bartel says.