Cancer patient’s wife in Facebook plea to Jeremy Hunt after 16-hour bed wait
The wife of a terminal cancer patient has written a heartbreaking open letter to Jeremy Hunt after her husband is said to have waited 16 hours for a hospital bed.
Becky Wilkinson, of Stafford, has penned the letter to the health secretary and University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust, which runs Stoke hospital where she experienced ‘one of the worst days’ of her life.
It followed a trip to the hospital with husband Steve on Monday, after a Macmillan nurse told him he had ascites, needed draining and tried to get him a bed.
She said after hours of waiting, he was finally taken to a bed at 1am the following day.
READ Becky's Facebook post in full:
Mrs Wilkinson said in her letter: “We sat for hours, to the point I ended up crying and begging them to help my husband – no one came – not because they didn’t want to but because they simply couldn’t.
“We sat and watched minor injury after minor injury come in, get assessed, treated and move on or out. She added: “If I treated my dog the way my husband has been treated I would be banned from looking after animals for life.”
Becky, who is originally from Salford, and Steve received the news that he had terminal cancer in February. The couple have a seven-year-old son.
Becky paid tribute to staff at the Royal Stoke hospital but delivered a firm message to Jeremy Hunt.
She said: “Jeremy Hunt sort your s*** out . . . let those Drs and nurses who so desperately want to help and care do their jobs.
"Smiles go a long way but without a well-resourced hospital with open beds and enough staff it doesn’t do enough to ease the suffering of those fighting for the life they have left.”
She added: “The people who work in Royal Stoke have been amazing, and I have felt their pain as they have looked at us and looked away as they don’t have the resources to do their job – today that has been magnified beyond belief.”
The letter, which was written on Facebook, has been shared more than 480 times.
Liz Rix, chief nurse at UHNM, said: “Clinicians have been in regular contact with Mr Wilkinson and his family and we were able to offer him a bed for his treatment last week.
"Mr Wilkinson declined this for personal reasons and our clinical teams fully understand patients need to prioritise spending time with their family during these very difficult times.
"Our services can become extremely busy and in some instances patients will then have to wait in A&E when they return for another bed to become available.
"We know that A&E is not the best environment for cancer patients and we met with and apologised to Mr Wilkinson and his family for having to be cared for in this environment.”
