Failed by NHS rules

SIR – The article by Laura Fulcher on the failings of the NHS (Comment, August 1) struck a nerve.

My wife walked into hospital on May 15 to have an operation which, it was hoped, would alleviate her Parkinson’s disease. She died of pneumonia on July 24. Between those dates she had seven infections, including the two lung infections which killed her.

The operation had gone wrong. Instead of going to the lower bowel, the tube that was inserted into her stomach pierced the stomach wall and so began the infections.

There were periods when she was medically fit enough to go home, away from sources of infection, but this was not allowed. The hospital staff argued that she could not be moved at home without equipment and in order to get the equipment she would have to be transferred to a Buckinghamshire hospital because she was a Buckinghamshire resident. The waiting time could be six weeks.

My wife weighed less than six stone. I had been moving her from bed to chair without incident for years. I demonstrated how easy it was to move her, but it made no difference.

Eventually she was transferred to Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Buckinghamshire. After two weeks, the equipment was delivered to our home. It came on a Friday. She died in hospital the following Monday.

My wife’s death was avoidable, caused by the inflexible rules under which hospital staff work. The motto seems to be: “As long as the patient is safe it doesn’t matter if she dies.” David Ferguson

Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire