‘If I treated my dog the way my husband was I’d be banned’

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 ease the suffering of those fighting for the life they have left.”

Last night a Department of Health and Social Care spokesman told the Daily Express: “We know it can be really distressing for patients and their relatives to have to wait a long time, and it is right that the Trust has apologised to Mr Wilkinson and his family.

“Demand on our NHS continues to grow, and staff have never worked harder.

“That is not only why NHS funding is at record levels, but also why the Prime Minister and Health and Social Care Secretary have committed to a long term plan with a sustainable multi-year settlement for the NHS.”

Mrs Wilkinson’s post comes after Mr Hunt warned following the “most challenging” winter for many years that there was “no doubt” about the NHS’s struggles.

Frontline doctors, nurses and paramedics have been begging for extra funding to help the continuing crisis.

Mr Wilkinson received his terminal diagnosis on February 22 but had recently been left in pain after chemotherapy.

His Macmillan nurse revealed he had ascites, an abnormal buildup of fluid in the abdomen caused by the cancer.

His ordeal began on Sunday, April 22, when he stopped eating at about 6pm.

A Macmillan nurse reassured the family that they should not worry as it would only take a few hours on the Monday to get a hospital bed. At 9am, the nurse rang ahead to the Royal Stoke Hospital, run by University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust (UHNM) to be told there would be a bed by noon.

At 2pm Mr Wilkinson, who has a seven-year-old son, was finally called in by consultants, which suggested a bed would become available soon.

He arrived shortly after 3pm, was assessed at 4.30pm but then told “there are very few senior doctors” to help him.

Nearly five hours later, Mrs Wilkinson revealed her husband saw a “lovely doctor”, who apologised for his agonising wait but said until they could find him a bed they could do nothing for him.

It was not until 1am – 16 hours after the initial phone call – that Mr Wilkinson was finally given bed.Mrs Wilkinson later said of her NHS experience: “Today has quite possibly been one of the worst days of my life.

“Until today, we have spoken highly of treatment we’ve had from community nurses, GP and Macmillan – they’ve all been great.

“The acute hospital, Becky Wilkinson sent an angry message to Jeremy Hunt a