THE glowing tribute to Gloucester Royal Hos­pital by Bruce Nash turned sour in the mouths of my family.

It would be nice to think that everyone could feel similarly about their treatment but unfortunately this is not the case. My wife was admitted to Glouces­tershire Royal on January 2 with a chest infection and died a week later of a completely unrelated complaint. In the summer she had had a bad case of pneumonia so we called the doctor again who thought she should be admitted to hospital as a precaution.

By the following day, although diagnosed with pneumonia again, she was much better but had started to be violently sick. This continued but seems not to have been treated very seriously. On Wednesday a tube was inserted into her stomach to drain the bile that she had been continually bringing up.

She informed the doctor that she was also having no bowel movements. This should have rung alarm bells with the medical staff as they are the classic symptoms of an intestinal blockage. It took them until Thursday to realise there might be something seriously wrong. She was given a scan on Thursday and told they would operate on Friday. We now know that at the first signs of an intestinal blockage immediate action is essential. She died in the early hours of Friday morning.

We were told initially the cause of death was a massive heart attack but we subsequently learnt that it was in fact heart failure due to blood poisoning. My wife apparently had a small hernia and the intestine trapped in the hernia had caused the blockage which lead to the blood poisoning. We informed the coron­er of our concerns and he is carrying out an investigation.

We have also made a complaint to the chief executive but whatever the outcome nothing can bring her back.

The day before my wife died had been the funeral of her cousin who died in the Dilke of C Difficile which he contracted in Glou­cester­­shire Royal.

We are devastated by the loss particularly as in our view it was preventable with the correct diagnosis and care. – S.G. Bosher, Valley Road, Cinderford.