A distraught daughter has accused the NHS of ‘failing’ her cancer-stricken mother after they ‘sent her home with paracetamol’.
Marie Stibbe, 79, who has retired in Tiverton, Devon, was diagnosed with liver cancer at the start of March after she experienced ‘legs so itchy she couldn’t sleep and was finding life very hard’.
A blood test revealed she had suddenly developed diabetes – another symptom of late-stage liver cancer. Though it wrongly suggested she had ovarian cancer.
But it was a month later that the liver disease was confirmed with a CT scan and a further three months until Marie started treatment, by which point her tumour had doubled in size, her daughter has claimed.
Rachael Stibbe, 44, from Kent, told the Daily Mail she was forced to seek a consultation from a private liver doctor after the NHS refused to continue her mother’s treatment, claiming her liver function had declined too significantly.
She said: ‘The doctors at Exeter hospital were really quite bad with her. One said “I could refer you for chemotherapy, but it’ll only give you a few extra weeks. I advise you to go home and enjoy the life you have left.”
‘They literally sent her home to die. The doctor said “I give you six to 12 months” and sent her off with a packet of paracetamol. He was so insensitive, there was no patient care whatsoever.’
The mother-of-one added: ‘She’s really depressed, she thinks her life is over.’
It is said to have taken three months for the NHS to start treatment for Marie Stibbe (centre) after she was diagnosed, by which point her tumour had doubled in size (seen with her husband and daughter)
The 79-year-old, who has retired in Tiverton, Devon, was diagnosed with liver cancer at the start of March
Now, the family have launched a GoFundMe to help raise money to get Marie specialist treatment in India.
After having ‘lost faith’ in the NHS, Rachael sought the opinion of a liver surgeon at Kings College Hospital, who wrote a report urging that Marie needed an MRI and PET scan, immediate combination treatment including immunotherapy and said if started right away she would have many years left.
But after at least six weeks of chasing Exeter hospital’s oncology team, they allegedly refused to consider the report and said it would make no difference to Marie’s treatment.
When Marie was diagnosed she had a ‘compensated liver’, meaning that while the tissue is scarred it can still function relatively normally.
However, Exeter Hospital allegedly refused to carry out an MRI scan following her diagnosis, so Rachael paid for one privately in May which showed the tumour had grown from seven centimetres to 14.9.
Her liver had reached a ‘decompensated’ stage which can drastically drop life expectancy. Marie’s gall bladder had also collapsed and her spleen was enlarged.
Rachael claimed Exeter Hospital failed to review the MRI report.
It took three months for Marie to receive her first round of immunotherapy from Exeter Hospital – well over the NHS’s 62-day cancer pathway rule.
This is a national standard designed to ensure that patients do not face dangerous delays when they have a life-threatening illness.
Exeter hospital have not met this standard for ten years since 2016 as ‘patients continued to wait too long for their treatment for cancer and remained at risk of deteriorating health because of the delay,’ according to a report by the Care Quality Commission.
Rachael Stibbe, 44, (pictured) from Kent, said she was forced to seek a consultation from a private liver doctor after the NHS refused to continue her mother’s treatment
The mother-of-three pictured with her grandson, two, and fears she will not get to see him grow up
After having ‘lost faith’ in the NHS, Rachael sought the opinion of a liver surgeon at Kings College Hospital (pictured together with their dogs)
Rachael said: ‘The doctor was very arrogant and wasn’t interested in investigating why her liver function had dropped and if it could potentially be remedied.
‘The Exeter NHS oncologist refused to answer our questions and just told her there’s nothing further they can do.
‘Exeter Hospital has caused unacceptable delays and refused to give my family basic information. They were too slow with everything; I consider them to be negligent.’
Rachael added: ‘She’s not going to get to see her grandson grow up.’
She continued that her mother had cirrhosis, which is permanent scarring of the liver, but the oncology team allegedly did not work at all with the liver team, which is typically standard practice.
Rachael said: ‘The reality is that this absolutely should have been in place throughout and I personally do not think her liver would have become so bad over the last few weeks to justify stopping treatment.
‘It might well be the case the drop in liver function is temporary but they are not interested in investigating further and of course that would have been a job for the liver team who washed their hands of the case in March.’
Marie was also suffering from extremely swollen legs, where fluid buildup was leaking into the tissue, but Exeter Hospital allegedly didn’t help manage the painful symptoms and refused to drain the excess fluid after water pills didn’t work.
‘She was really suffering every day and they weren’t interested. They wouldn’t help relieve her pain or take responsibility for her symptoms. They said it was a GP problem, it was terrible,’ said the distraught daughter.
Rachael and her family are now looking at private treatment abroad in India
The cancer patient also needed urgent treatment from a jaw and face specialist after losing a front tooth which made it difficult for her to eat.
But Rachael claims the Exeter Hospital oncologist denied receiving relevant letters, refused to contact the maxillofacial team, and her referral was downgraded from urgent to standard.
‘She won’t be alive by the time they offer her a dental/maxillofacial appointment because there is such a backlog.
‘It’s disgusting behaviour and demonstrates she’s been failed by the liver department, oncology department and maxillofacial,’ said Marie’s daughter.
The 44-year-old also complained to the NHS’s Patient Advice and Liaison Service, but says she never had any of her concerns answered.
She said: ‘I emailed PALS and I got an automated email reply saying I’ll get a response in 50 days. They’re not monitoring their emails.
‘The bottom line is I asked so many questions and to this day I have not got a response.’
Rachael and her family are now looking at private treatment abroad in India, who have specialised treatment plans and say they may be able to save her.
But this is expected to cost more than £100,000 and Rachael has started a GoFundMe pleading for donations to help her ‘lovely’ mother who is the ‘backbone’ of their family.
She wrote on the donation page: ‘Please help us save my lovely mother. She did not deserve such poor treatment from the NHS and she is the backbone of our family.
‘Our family will break without her and my father will not cope. In fact, we fear he will either then end his life or die of a broken heart. After 56 years of marriage.’
She added: ‘My mother waited 40 years for a grandchild and she finally has Liam, a beautiful boy who is 2 years old and loves his grandma.
‘It is heartbreaking that she paid her taxes and took such an altruistic view with child benefit and this is how the NHS repays her. Liam is now facing growing up without his grandmother but he doesn’t understand – he is only two years old.’
Exeter Hospital said: ‘The concerns raised by Ms Stibbe are currently being investigated through our complaints process, and we have kept her informed of the status of those investigations.
‘We will respond to her concerns directly when our investigations are completed.’
