A grieving husband is demanding answers after his wife died just seven weeks after she was diagnosed with cancer, claiming she was not offered any treatment.
Colin Thompson, 62, says his wife Sylvia’s last weeks were riddled with misdiagnoses and delays which he believes caused her to die far too soon. While Colin, a security officer at the Scottish Parliament, accepts that his wife could not have survived, he believes her family could have had a lot more time with her.
Colin said: “Everything kept getting pushed back. If she had treatment earlier we might have got a bit more time with her.”
Colin claims Sylvia, 57, was assured on three separate occasions after she was diagnosed that her cancer was not aggressive and that she would receive chemotherapy.
Her first dose was scheduled to begin two weeks after her diagnosis but a series of delays meant she never received any and was still waiting to meet with an oncologist just four days before her death. Sylvia, from Kirkliston, Edinburgh had started feeling poorly in May and went to the doctor’s complaining of pains in her upper ribcage and was prescribed different painkillers.
On July 5 she was referred to Edinburgh’s Western General where she was told she probably had a blockage in her bowel. But a after scans she was diagnosed with colon cancer.
Colin claimed: “On July 10 we were told she was going to need chemo because of the colon growth and she would need a stent. That was the first suspicion of cancer.
“A cancer nurse told us cancer was virtually certain the stent would be inserted and chemo would start in two weeks time.”
He also said Sylvia was wrongly told the cancer was non aggressive on a number of occasions before there was finally an admission the cancer was growing rapidly. He claimed diagnoses of the source and spread of the cancer changed regularly over the next few weeks as she awaited biopsy results which were delayed.
Colin said: “It was like a ticking time bomb. Another week delay was criminal, it was another week wasted.”
But even as she was discharged from hospital on July 15 she was told chemotherapy was “definitely an option”. A week later there was confirmation the disease had spread but the first oncologist appointment wasn’t scheduled until August 6.
From the beginning of August, however, Sylvia’s condition began to deteriorate and she ended up back in hospital.
A further CT scan led to the revelation the cancer had spread rapidly and it was now in her bones.
Colin said: “We were told there was no option of surgery but that we would have to wait another 10 days to see an oncologist to see if chemo was an option.
“It was delay after delay after delay.”
When she was eventually allowed home a district nurse changed her syringe driver every day but on the day of her oncologist’s appointment it broke and it took two hours to source the only spare one in the whole of the city, leaving her in agony.
The delay in receiving medication meant she was sleepy by the time her appointment came and the oncologist refused to assess her, putting the appointment back yet another week to August 27.
In tears Colin said: “August 23 was the first time she said she couldn’t bear the pain any longer. She just wanted out.”
By the time her rearranged oncology appointment came round she opted instead to go into the hospice and died just four days later.
Colin and Sylvia’s sons, Chris, 37, and twins Andy and Sjhone, 27, want someone to explain face to face why decisions were taken.
Lib-Dem leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said: “Sylvia’s story is punctuated by delay, false hope and unmet need for palliative care.
“The agony that the family have been through with Sylvia and the physical pain she endured are not acceptable in our modern NHS.
“My heart is with the family and NHS Lothian cannot continue to stonewall their quest for answers.”
Dr Tracey Gillies, Medical Director, NHS Lothian, said: “Our deepest condolences and sympathies are with the Thompson family at this very sad time.”
She insisted there were “no delays with diagnostic tests and oncology appointments” but said “progression can be very rapid with some cancers”.
She continued: “We are in contact with the family and will respond directly to them as soon as possible.”