A HEARTBROKEN woman from Corsham has condemned Bath's Royal United Hospital's sepsis campaign after she believed they failed to acknowledge her husband's fatal illness.

Doreen Stevenson, 75, of Hatton Way, has complained about the care 77-year-old Donald received last year and believes that the hospital will not admit that the cause of his death on November 12 was due to fatal blood poisoning.

Mr Stevenson, who died after suffering a heart attack in 2007 had fought Norovirus, Guillain-Barre Syndrome and MRSA, was treated at the RUH for pneumonia last August. His wife said: “He was discharged as he was bed blocking. They didn’t have a wheelchair or porter to help him move, and fFrom there he never got better.”

Shortly after their 53th wedding anniversary in October, a district nurse spotted there was something wrong with Mr Stevenson's blood and he was rushed back to hospital where he was diagnosed with a chest infection. A day later, he was put into an induced coma in intensive care without his wife's knowledge.

"It was a terrible shock," Mrs Stevenson said: "Why didn't they tell me? I saw different nurses and doctors every time and they all said the same thing that Don wouldn't be coming home but they never admitted he had sepsis.

"They tried to wake him up gradually and November 5, he was woken up but he couldn't speak. I cannot imagine the ordeal that Don had gone through knowing he could not get any better and not be able to speak about it.

"It was heartbreak for me and I am disgusted with that happened. I am on my own with no family and my life has been completely ruined."

After battling a heart attack in 2007, Norovirus, Guillain-Barre Syndrome and MRSA, Mr Stevenson died on November 12.

Mrs Stevenson has since filed a complaint with the RUH about the way his death was handled and her husband's experience at the hospital which included unclean rooms and being sent to Chippenham Hospital without the third MRSA swab being completed.

"What has appalled me the most is in the last letter I received from the hospital they said there had been a window of opportunity to tell me about Don but they missed it." Mrs Stevenson said.

The RUH recently relaunched their training scheme, first used two years ago, to update their staff on the new NICE guidelines for sepsis.

Helen Blanchard, director of Nursing and Midwifery, RUH said: “We have been in contact with Mrs Stevenson over a number of years to investigate her concerns about the care of her late husband whilst he was in our hospital. We are sorry that we have not been able to fully resolve these concerns and I remain in touch with Mrs Stevenson to further work through the issues she has raised.”