A HUSBAND claims doctors failed to detect his late wife’s malignant tumour and diagnosed her with acid reflux instead.

Barbara Lees, 78, was admitted to the Great Western Hospital on Valentine’s Day after suffering a severe stroke.

He husband, Alexander, wants an apology from hospital chiefs for what he says later happened. Barbara was soon transferred to Forest Ward, where she complained of sharp abdominal pain running right through to her back.

Doctors, her husband alleges, put it down to acid reflux and prescribed Gaviscon and Co-codamol, a painkiller. But the pain, Alexander says, did not subside for the rest of her eight-and-a-half-week stay.

She was discharged, he insists, 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 according to Alexander it was not until her sixth day at GWH that she eventually received one. The procedure revealed that far from acid reflux, she had an inoperable tumour.

Barbara died at her Stratton St Margaret home on her husband’s birthday, May 25.

Alexander, 79, lodged two complaints with the Patient Advice and Liaison Service at GWH, asking doctors to admit they failed his wife. He told the Adver the whole ordeal had been ‘horrendous’ and left him worried for future patients.

“She was constantly suffering,” the father-of-two said. “We told the doctors about the position of her pain. This went on for the rest of her time in hospital. During this time my wife lost two stones. They put it down to her not eating and gave her pills for depression.

“They said she was not cooperating because she was not doing her little exercises and wanted to lay in bed. That’s what they said was causing the acid reflux but it was not that; it was because she had an inoperable tumour.

“When she returned to hospital a doctor said her liver was in jeopardy and asked the doctor assisting him to arrange a scan. No scan was given that day or the next. She only had one six days later.”

He added: “I want an admission that they made a mistake. I don’t want anybody else to suffer in that way. And if they had done the scan before they would have found the tumour. They said that in the end they couldn’t have saved her. But they could have made her life more bearable. What was the big deal about giving her a scan?

“A Prospect nurse at the hospital arranged for my wife to be brought home on May 21 by ambulance. They arranged for Marie Curie nurses to stay with my wife at night and for the district nurse to visit. She died on my birthday.

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

While Forest Ward is under the control of SEQOL, the social enterprise organisation, GWH provides doctors for the unit.

Chris Grist, general manager for unscheduled care at Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We are unable to comment in detail on individual cases due to patient confidentiality. We are sorry that Mr Lees is unhappy with the care his wife received during her time with us. We are in contact with Mr Lees and have offered to meet to discuss his concerns.

“It is important clinicians are involved in these meetings so the patient’s care can be discussed in detail. Therefore due to clinical commitments it may not always be possible to meet immediately. However we do always offer a range of dates, and a time and location convenient to them.

“The trust takes all complaints very seriously. We fully investigate what happened and identify any improvements needed to ensure we can provide care to future patients.”