A widow who was never shown her husband's original scan results before he was killed by cancer has now been 'insulted' by a £100 offer she believes would 'sweep it under the carpet'. Roy Allen died aged 70 back on March 30, 2019, leaving behind wife Linda and son Steve.
The family, from Astley, have since spent more than three years trying to get to the bottom of why he was able to get so close to death before discovering he was terminally ill. Roy was given a scan at the Royal Albert Edward Infirmary - also known as Wigan Infirmary - in February 2019, but never received the results.
After his illness deteriorated - with his family still unaware of what it was - Roy was rushed to Royal Bolton Hospital on March 27, 2019. He had another scan, showing he had cancer in his liver and lungs, but it came just days before Roy died in hospital.
Linda, 76, told the Manchester Evening News : "He was very humble, a very good person, and then that's what you get at the end of your life. I feel as though I have lost half of me.
"He would go out in a morning to get a newspaper and get my mags. He would come back and ask if I wanted a bacon butty. That was paradise. We'd sit together, he'd do the crossword and I'd read my mags. By God, do I miss that now."
Roy was Linda's second husband. The couple met when she was 32 and had Steve five years later. Linda had dreamed of retiring with him in Cleveleys, near Blackpool, where they made many fond memories. Instead, Roy has a memorial bench at Bents garden centre near Leigh, where his family pay tribute to their 'lovely man'.
Roy had worked as a plumber from leaving school until the final months of his life, well past retirement age. He suffered burns on his hands during a job in September 2018 and was treated at Wythenshawe Hospital before continuing his recovery at home.
But by winter, Roy was becoming unwell, losing weight and suffering nightmares. Linda says it was when her husband had gone for his flu vaccine and the nurse commented that he didn't 'look so good' that the family became more concerned.
The family says Roy visited his GP in January 2019, but was sent away and told to 'take two paracetamol'. Yet his illness continued, and when he returned to the practice the following month, Roy saw a locum doctor who sent him for tests.
After an X-ray of Roy showed a 'shadow', he was sent for a scan at Wigan Infirmary, but neither he nor his family were given the results. Linda said: "To this day we have never seen or had any reference to this scan.
"I was phoning up every day because he started to deteriorate, nobody helped us. We didn't know he had cancer. He had no dignity whatsoever."
Roy's family says that by this time his condition was severely worsening and he was unable to sleep in bed. Linda said: "He would come downstairs saying 'I can't get easy, Linda'. He couldn't eat. He would lie on the couch, then lie on the living room floor."
His son Steve, 37, who is a carer for mum Linda, added: "We started to get to the point where we had paramedics here most days, we were calling 999 most days. They said they didn't know what to do because they didn't have the results of the scan. To this day we've never had the opportunity to review it, talk about it or anything like that."
The family say they continued to call to chase up the scan results and for further medical assistance. They were given a nebuliser for Roy the week before he died, but still did not have his scan results from Wigan Infirmary.
Roy's family ultimately took him to Royal Bolton Hospital on March 27, 2019, where he would have another scan which would prove to be devastating. As the family were still processing the news Roy's cancer was terminal, he died on March 30, 2019.
In their search for answers following Roy's death, Linda and Steve sought legal advice, complained to the NHS trust which runs Wigan Infirmary, and spoke to Healthwatch Wigan as well as the offices of their MPs before and after the 2019 general election, Jo Platt and James Grundy. They both pointed the family in the direction of the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO).
Having contacted PHSO in 2020, Roy's family say the body 'dragged out' the process involving their complaint. This summer, the PHSO finally came back to the family with the offer of £100 from the NHS trust, after it failed to provide Roy's scan result.
That sum of money is the lowest 'remedy' offered through the PSPO for a 'level two' injustice, which it describes as something which 'had a relatively low impact on the person affected' and could have resulted in a 'degree of distress, inconvenience or minor pain'. Roy's family have been left appalled by the suggestion what happened had a 'relatively low impact'.
They insist they don't want any money, but want a full explanation on how they never received Roy's scan results. "I couldn't be more offended or insulted," said Linda.
"I can never agree that my husband dying was a minor inconvenience. They can stick their £100 wherever they want. I'll never agree to it.
"They want to wipe it away. Once we agree to that £100 we've said 'it's OK'. It's not OK, it never will be. They have completely disregarded what we have said to them, they just want it finished so they can sweep it under the carpet.
"I would never be that desperate to accept the £100. I would rather they had said in the first place that they couldn't do anything for me."
In a heartbreaking irony, Roy's family say he had paid out a direct debit to the Macmillan cancer support charity following the loss of his brother to the same illness in the 1990s, yet he was never able to benefit from palliative care at his own time of need. Linda added: "To this day I've never heard anything from Wigan Infirmary, not even a sorry."
A spokesperson for the PSPO told the M.E.N. : "We’re deeply sorry for the traumatic experience Mrs Allen has undergone before and following the sad loss of her husband. We carefully considered Mrs Allen’s complaint and found failings in the way the trust communicated about her husband’s scan results and diagnosis, and that this added to the family’s distress.
"The focus of our remit is to make recommendations when things go wrong. This helps organisations learn from mistakes and brings about service improvement for future users. The trust agreed to apologise to the Allen family and show how it has taken learning around its communication of cancer diagnosis following scans.”
Wigan, Wrightington and Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (WWL) runs the Royal Albert Edward Infirmary. Prof Sanjay Arya, medical director at the trust, added: "We would like to extend our sincere condolences to the family.
"In line with our organisational responsibilities around patient confidentiality, we would not comment publicly on the care received by any individual. However, we want to reassure that WWL takes all complaints and concerns seriously."
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