Heartache as Dudley wife becomes cancer casualty of pandemic

Mum-of-one Clare Hill passed away on January 30 at Mary Stevens Hospice from colon cancer.

Her untimely death has devastated her husband Martin Day, who feels she was let down in her time of need due to the coronavirus crisis.

He says he and his wife waited anxiously for months for a diagnosis, suspecting something was wrong, after first seeking medical help in March 2020 as hospitals began to empty in anticipation of an influx of patients with Covid-19.

Martin, aged 55, said Clare had been feeling unwell and had lost weight but he decided to take her to A&E at Russells Hall Hospital as "she was vomiting faeces".

He said: "That's not normal and A&E were very keen to admit her."

However, he said after blood tests and an X-ray in the surgical assessment unit she was sent home to await an urgent colonoscopy.

But it was June before she was seen and her worst fear was finally confirmed. She had cancer.

Martin, her husband of eight years, said: "I was completely shocked. Clare had the feeling she knew she had cancer."

He said they were told without chemotherapy she could expect to live for around six months - and if she was able to undergo chemo it could prolong her life by two to three years.

But Martin said: "It was not a good prognosis."

Worse still, he claims Clare was told she would only be able to undergo chemotherapy if she was able to put weight on.

Five weeks later, in August, Clare finally underwent her first bout of chemotherapy – after Martin, a former Parliamentary aide to ex-West Midlands UKIP MEP Bill Etheridge, turned to Dudley North Tory MP Marco Longhi in a desperate bid for help.

He said: "Everything changed when Marco got involved. Although I don't agree with his leader – as a local MP I've found him to be excellent."

The weeks that followed were a constant struggle for Clare, however, as she tried to maintain her strength and stave off further weight loss to continue the chemo.

Clare Hill pictured while in hospital. The mum-of-one documented her struggles on social media

And in October she was admitted to hospital with worryingly low blood pressure and a high heart rate. A blood transfusion, IV fluids and antibiotics helped her to feel better and she was discharged but the future was looking bleaker by the day.

Martin, secretary for the Libertarian Party – who gave up full-time work to care for his wife, described the situation as "beyond devastating" and he began calling for answers from the Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Russells Hall Hospital, to ask why vital early diagnostics and treatment did not happen back in March as the country braced itself for the coronavirus pandemic.

He said: "At the height of lockdown all invasive procedures were shut down.

"I really would like to know who gave the order to stop treatment. Was it the government? The board of directors at Russells Hall Hospital? Or the consultant who sent her away from the surgical assessment unit?

"Who is to blame?"

He told the News: "I feel Clare was let down. She thought the NHS would be there for her and it wasn't."

Martin stressed he had no criticism of the "lovely nurses" who looked after his wife at Russells Hall but said: "We just want to know who gave the order to empty the hospital and stop investigating cancers."

He said: "It all seems to be about one virus when people are dying of many other things. Cancer is one of the biggest causes of death in this country. Treatment of it should never ever have been stopped.”

Clare, a published author whose first grandchild was born during the first lockdown, told the News in October how "devastating" it was to be dealing with advanced cancer and how she had received the shock diagnosis over the phone after spending "months trying to get my illness taken seriously and investigated properly".

In the weeks that followed, too weak to continue with chemo, her treatment plan became palliative care and after spending weeks in hospital, apart from a short spell at home for Christmas, she was admitted to Mary Stevens Hospice in Stourbridge where she passed away on January 30.

In a final cruel twist, her husband was diagnosed with Covid-19 as she settled into the hospice and was prevented from visiting.

He was finally given the all-clear to see her shortly before she died and he said: "She recognised me but had sadly lost the power of speech, so it was more than traumatic."

Cancer Research UK says urgent suspected cancer referrals across England and Wales plummeted at the beginning of the coronavirus crisis and the disruption caused by the pandemic throughout 2020 has "left a deep rift in cancer care" – with 40,000 fewer people than usual having started cancer treatment across the UK last year.

And a report to the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee on the UK's response to Covid-19 and use of scientific advice, published last month, confirmed Chief Medical Officer Professor Chris Whitty had warned in April 2020 there would be indirect deaths caused by the downscaling of public health services during the pandemic.

The Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust has not responded to questions about what specific services/procedures were put on hold during the first lockdown and whether this included diagnostics and surgeries for cancer but chief executive Diane Wake has insisted that urgent cancer care has continued throughout the coronavirus crisis.

She said: “Understandably, during the first wave of the pandemic there was increased concern among our patients about being exposed to Covid and we saw some people cancelling urgent appointments against our advice because of fears of catching the virus.

“Tragically in this case the patient's condition deteriorated and she lost her battle with the disease. Our deepest sympathies and heartfelt condolences are with the family at this very difficult time. Throughout the Covid pandemic we have been able to provide urgent cancer care and have given messages to the public and our patients to attend appointments unless we rearrange them and also to seek medical advice if you are worried about anything at all.”

Mr Day said his wife had not cancelled any appointments but had asked for a deferred appointment date for the colonoscopy, as she was suffering with cold-like/coronavirus-like symptoms at the time, but it was summertime before a further appointment was made.

He said: "When everyone has to fund the NHS through general taxation, no one should have the right to decide who to treat and who not.

"Non-diagnosis and delayed treatment of cancer was always going to cause extra deaths. The decision to empty hospitals at the start of lockdown one was made by people who knew this.

"Clare was badly let down, it cost her her life and has ruined mine."

Clare's funeral will take place at Gornal Wood Crematorium on Tuesday March 9.