A heartbroken daughter is asking questions about cancer diagnosis times after her father’s tragic death.
Derrick Williams first contacted his doctor in December last year after suffering with a chest complaint and weight loss.
After waiting months for a blood test the 62-year-old went to A&E in unbearable pain.
It was there where, within 24 hours, the 62-year-old was told he had tumours that had spread to his liver.
Medics confirmed that he had stage four cancer and just 10 days after he walked into A&E, Mr Williams died, Wales Online reports.
His daughter Sara Mair Sauro has called for urgent improvements to cancer diagnoses.
She said her dad had to wait for two months after first contacting his GP in December to get a face-to-face appointment - and he was given an asthma pump, laxatives and steroid medicine
It wasn’t until March this year that he was referred for tests following requests from his family, who clearly knew something wasn’t right, according to his family.
When a blood test came back as abnormal, Derrick, from Pontyberem in Carmarthenshire, was referred for an ultrasound.
By that time, however, he was in unbearable pain and went himself straight to the A&E department at Glangwili Hospital in Carmarthen.
"He went to the GP to find out exactly what was going on with him,” his daughter Sara said.
"What’s cruel is, he just went so quickly, I just want answers to understand.
I don’t think the end result would have changed but you never know as he wasn’t given that opportunity.
"I took him to A&E out of my own choice and his own choice because he couldn’t go on anymore. I felt like I was in a nightmare.
We didn’t have long, and he was trying to be positive saying ‘I’m going to fight this, I’m going to be here for you’. I can’t help but feel like I’ve let him down."
Mother-of-two Sara appeared on S4C’s Byd ar Bedwar on Monday night and admitted that she has serious questions about healthcare provision in west Wales.
Her frustration and pain is heightened due to the fact that her mother Janet also died from cancer six years ago - just three months after being diagnosed.
“I very much feel we are at the end of the M4 and the healthcare around here is unfortunately not the best,” she said.
“They need to look at why we are the last to receive what bigger hospitals have received years before.
"I don’t think we have the capacity, I don’t think we have the care. I feel like we are at the end of the line.”
Latest statistics show that Hywel Dda University Health Board, which manages healthcare in west Wales, had the worst cancer waiting times in all of Wales in April 2022.
Overall, 48 per cent of cancer patients in the health board area started their cancer treatment within the 62-day-target set by the Welsh Government, compared to 68.2 per cent in the Betsi Cadwaladr area in north Wales.
No single health board in Wales met the government’s target of 75 per cent.
In response to the concerns raised by Sara regarding her father’s treatment and care, Hywel Dda University Health Board confirmed that they are looking into the circumstances which led to his death.
Mandy Rayani, director of nursing, quality and patient experience at the health board, said: “We would like to offer our deepest condolences to the family of Mr Williams.
"While we are unable to comment on individual patient cases, we take all complaints very seriously and are in the process of responding to the issues that have been raised.”
