Cancer patient waited 16 hours

The hospital's chief executive will meet Mrs Toms' son

A Somerset hospital has launched an investigation after a cancer patient was left waiting on a trolley.

Jean Toms, 71, died at Weston General Hospital in Weston-super-Mare two days after being admitted to the accident and emergency department.

She was left waiting on a trolley for 16 hours after arriving at hospital by ambulance.

Mrs Toms had been receiving treatment for stomach cancer at Torbay Hospital in Devon and was recovering from chemotherapy at her son's home.

This should not have been allowed to happen

Mark Toms

She developed breathing problems on 22 July and was rushed to the hospital.

However, her son Mark said she was left overnight on a hospital trolley and was not found a bed until 1400BST the next day.

On 24 July, she was taken for an X-ray - but was left in the corridor again for another two hours when a fire alarm went off.

Mr Toms said he was "furious" over the way his mother had been treated and said the A&E department should have found her a bed straight away.

"This should not have been allowed to happen," he said.

"If there had been enough beds it probably would not have happened.

"I do blame Weston General to a certain extent, but they are understaffed and underfunded and they do not have enough beds."

Enormous pressure

The hospital's chief executive Roger Moyse said he had ordered an investigation into the incident.

"I can confirm that she did wait a long time and that is unacceptable," he said.

"We are going to find out exactly how long she waited and whether that in any way affected her treatment."

He said the hospital was under "enormous pressure" and was struggling to find enough beds to cope.