"My husband's treatment"

My husband was admitted to ward 18 as he was struggling to eat and drink. He had an oesophageal stent placed 2 days later. Less than 4 hours later he was given salmon fish cakes and mashed potato to eat. This is against all advice provided for an oesophageal stent which advises liquids only for 72 hours.

Being hungry and confused after sedation, my husband tried to eat some before it was taken away by the nurse who provided it with no explanation. He was not provided with any alternative clear fluids and asked for pain relief. He was still waiting for this almost 2 hours later when I visited. I had to ask the same nurse for this again.

He was then moved to ward 17 during the night and the following day (less than 24 hours after surgery) was given a rubbery omelette for lunch! He unsurprisingly could not eat this, in the evening he was given blended potato and leek soup which was not of the correct consistency. This caused him to gag and vomit.

When my daughter and I spoke to nursing staff regarding this, the answer we received was: this is his new normal.

We asked to speak to medical or surgical staff but no one was available and it was arranged that the upper GI cancer nurse would visit to advise us on the stent. We were advised that they would see us at 2pm but we waited till 4.20pm but they did not arrive and we could not wait any longer as my husband needed to rest before protected meal time at 5pm. We are unsure if or when we may be able to see them again.

The dietitian did visit and gave us a lot of information and agreed with us that he should never have been given the food at that stage. They were alarmed that he had been admitted via A&E, as the upper GI cancer team have a hub which patients can come through.

We are six years into our cancer journey and sadly it looks like we are nearing the end and have never been given any information regarding this hub.

As many people know, the cancer journey can be long, difficult and distressing without incidents such as this.