Stevenage widow 'angry' after Covid delays cancer treatment

Mal Watkins was due to start treatment in March

A widow says she feels "angry and disgusted" about the death of her husband after his cancer treatment was delayed by three months due to Covid.

Mal Watkins, 73, died in September at the Lister Hospital, Stevenage, after becoming too ill to continue treatment.

Sheila Watkins "strongly believes" her husband could have lived longer if his chemotherapy and immunotherapy had gone ahead in March.

An NHS spokeswoman said decisions were made to balance the risk of Covid.

Sheila Watkins said it was "excruciating" not being allowed to visit her husband of 53 years while he was in hospital

Mr Watkins was treated for lung cancer in 2019 but in February the disease returned and he was due to receive treatment in March.

Due to the pandemic, his treatment did not begin until June.

"A week of so after the treatment started his breathing got even worse and he was just really really unwell," Mrs Watkins said.

"Nobody was allowed in the hospital with him, we weren't allowed to visit as a family. It was just excruciating."

Mrs Watkins said her husband was left on his own for several hours after being told he had "months" to live

The 71-year-old said two nurses and an oncologist told her husband he could not continue with the treatment and that he had "months" to live.

"He was left in that room by himself for five hours afterwards," she said. "Nobody came to talk to him or ask him how he felt.

"I'm just so angry and disgusted that the Covid situation has overtaken everything. There's a total disregard for other life-threatening conditions."

Mrs Watkins said she "strongly believes" her husband could have lived longer if his treatment started earlier

Expressing his sympathies, Nick Carver, chief executive at East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust, said: "Cancer treatment continued throughout the pandemic for all patients for who it was safe to do so,."

A spokeswoman for NHS England said "decisions were rightly taken by expert clinicians who had to balance potential benefits against the risk posed by coronavirus".

Find BBC News: East of England on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If you have a story suggestion email [e-mail]