ALMOST three years after he lost his wife to pancreatic cancer a devoted husband is still demanding answers from the Great Western Hospital.

Barbara Lees lost her short battle with cancer at the age of 78 on her husband Alexander’s birthday on May 25, 2013. She had been admitted to hospital on Valentine’s Day of that year having suffered a severe stroke. While in hospital she complained of sharp abdominal pain running right through her back.

But doctors, her husband alleges, put it down to acid reflux and prescribed Gaviscon and Co-codamol. But the pain, Alexander says, did not subside for the rest of her eight-and-a-half-week stay. She was discharged despite being in a great deal of pain, but three weeks later became jaundiced and was hospitalised again.

Alarmed at her condition, a doctor ordered a scan to be carried out that same day, but it was not until the sixth day that she received one. The procedure revealed that far from acid reflux, she had an inoperable tumour.

Alexander, now 81, lodged two complaints with the Patient Advice and Liaison Service at GWH, asking doctors to admit they failed his wife and could have done more to ease her suffering in her final weeks.

This led to two reviews of his wife’s medical notes by GWH consultants, which found there had been no error. But when he demanded a third opinion from a consultant from a different hospital it was found that an opportunity had been missed to diagnose her true condition.

The consultant from the Royal United Hospital in Bath remarked that pancreatic cancer was notoriously difficult to diagnose because early stage blood tests are often unremarkable, but her pain should have led to further investigations and either a CT scan or an ultrasound.

He made three recommendations to the hospital that they should learn from the case, review how it records pain to avoid underestimating the issue and improve opportunities for families to express their concerns about their relatives.

The matter was further taken up with the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman which partially upheld Mr Lees’ complaint.

But Mr Lees has called for answers to his queries about medical statements that were made by the GWH reviews which he claims are incorrect.

In a letter sent to Mr Lees earlier this year by the hospital it was stated that the person who made those medical remarks in the hospital's initial investigation no longer worked in the NHS, meaning they were unable to investigate why those statements were made.

He has been told by the hospital that any further correspondence should go through the ombudsman and they will not be responding to any of his emails or letters.

He said: “They have apologised but they are not very good at solving this last query. I have lost confidence in some of the organisations.

“For the last 11 days of her life she received the help she should have had three months before.”

A spokesman for the Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said: “We have apologised to Mr Lees, who has met with our medical director and other staff on numerous occasions, to discuss the care provided to Barbara.

“We have taken all of his concerns extremely seriously and, in addition to our own investigations, have also worked with independent organisations to review what happened.

“Improvements to our processes regarding diagnostic procedures have since been made and having met all the recommendations from the Health Service Ombudsman, the ombudsman advised that Mr Lees’ case be closed.

“We understand that this is a difficult time and would encourage Mr Lees to discuss the concerns he still has with the ombudsman.”