ALAN Campbell could not believe it when he was refused a hospital appointment because he was ‘dead’.

The 63-year-old, who has undergone three operations for skin cancer, wanted to see a consultant as soon as possible after experiencing throat problems.

But he was “flabbergasted” when a call centre operator told him their records showed he was deceased.

Mr Campbell had called the Choose and Book service, which is employed by NHS Blackburn with Darwen Teaching Care Trust Plus to organise its appointments service.

But despite trying to explain to the call handler that he was very much alive and kicking he was still refused a time slot.

Mr Campbell’s experience is extremely worrying and is a stark example of the inadequacies of our call centre culture.

Often impersonal, frequently ineffective, they have come to symbolise all that wrong with our modern obsession with creating mammoth institutions.

People working at Choose and Book, which has centres in Chatham, Hedge End and Milton Keynes, are hide bound by the information in front of them but it seems that even when common sense is staring them in the face they have to act robotically.

Mistakes like this should not happen, and a review needs to be carried out immediately to stop anyone else suffering.