A DEVOTED husband whose wife suffered a devastating stroke as a result of negligence at the Great Western Hospital has called for patients to be given aspirin routinely following surgery.

Edward Robinson won £185,000 damages from the NHS after a judge ruled the hospital was at fault for delaying adnominal surgery in 2010.

If it had gone ahead 11 days earlier the complications that led to his wife Julie’s stroke would not have happened.

“I firmly believe, having listened to all the evidence and the experts, the current thought of the medical profession is that every single surgical patient should be given aspirin or one of the alternatives,” he said.

“What would it cost the NHS to give everybody a course of aspirin after surgery? Just imagine the strokes it could prevent.”

Grandmother of three Mrs Robinson, 59, fell victim to cancer of the larynx last year and died in December.

“She was so tough as a woman,” he said.

“She was stoical and she never made a fuss.

“I didn’t know how to feel on Friday [at the hearing].

“There was no rejoicing. I just knew I had got justice for her.

“No amount of money is going to compensate either her or me for what we went through.”

We were born in the same hospital two days apart, we met when we were 17 and we were together for 49 years,” he said. “We were truly soulmates.”

He said she had been an integral part of their office seating company and ran the business while he was abroad

“We had a relationship that transcended husband and wife.

“We were friends, we were business partners and we did everything together.”

He said: “My life is completely in ruins because of this. I lost the business, we eventually lost the house. I have got nothing left.

“We had a beautiful Cotswold stone barn conversion that we had lived in for 10 years at Marston Meysey.”

Mr Robinson, now of Fairford, described how his wife was repeatedly discharged from the hospital only to be re-admitted days later suffering from dehydration caused by the stoma.

On Christmas Eve in 2011 he had to call paramedics to her. She struggled through Christmas Day and was re-admitted on Boxing Day only to be discharged a week later.

She struggled to walk and needed help washing, dressing and going downstairs. It was while Mr Robinson was helping her down the stairs that she collapsed, breaking her hip.