A Bulwell man whose wife has died aged 51 has criticised the care he says she received at the Queen's Medical Centre (QMC). Michael Hargreaves says he has lost his "best friend", who was a mother of three and a grandmother of one, with her death to be examined in an inquest.
Diane Hargreaves passed away on Friday (May 12) after collapsing at her family home on Naomi Crescent. Two weeks before, Mrs Hargreaves had been admitted on to a ward at the QMC after ringing 111 about the "agony" she was in because of a split hernia.
The growth had also caused a blockage, meaning that Mrs Hargreaves was unable to use the toilet, and the hernia was located on the front of her stomach. This first hospital visit lasted for three days, but Mr Hargreaves says staff felt an operation on the hernia would be "too risky."
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Mr Hargreaves says during this first visit, his wife was only given a laxative, which didn't work, and was eventually sent home with "no proper aftercare." Because of the continued pain being suffered by Mrs Hargreaves, she attended the QMC's A&E department twice after her hospital visit.
But on both occasions, she waited for around 12 hours without being seen. Mr Hargreaves, 53, said: "We were begging A&E staff for someone to have a look at her and assess her properly, but she never got seen.
"She was still in agony but she said she only got given paracetamol on the second A&E visit. I just think the way she was treated was absolutely shocking."
Mr Hargreaves says that on May 12, he was downstairs when he heard a bang from above, eventually running upstairs to find that his wife had collapsed. Mrs Hargreaves was eventually taken to the QMC by an ambulance, but she died during the handover to hospital.
Dr Keith Girling, the Medical Director at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, said: "I offer my condolences to the family of Mrs Hargreaves at this difficult time. We are in contact with her family and are actively reviewing our pathways for this increasingly common but complex illness."
Mr and Mrs Hargreaves had been married since 2002, but had been together for more than 30 years in total. Michael Hargreaves works as a bus driver, whilst his wife worked as a sales assistant at the Matalan in Bulwell.
Mr Hargreaves said: "I'm not just saying it because she was my wife, but Diane was such a lovely person. She would have given her last bit of money away to help someone out and she was such a bubbly person who was always up for a laugh.
"We're all in shock as a family but we're just taking things one day at a time. We've had a wife, best friend, mother and grandmother taken away from us.
"Our granddaughter is now going to grow up not knowing who her grandma was. I just don't want the situation we've ended up in to be put on anyone else."
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