Wife lists worries over husband's diabetes treatment

Jill Spinks, 56, claimed on each of the five times her husband Bryan had been admitted since the start of September she noticed something wrong.

"It's a catalogue of things, what we've seen and how he's been treated," she said. "It's my new year pledge to make sure Royal Shrewsbury Hospital address its problems."

Among the complaints relating to her husband are claims of early signs of complications being missed, Mr Spinks' requests being ignored and concerns over hygiene.

Bryan Spinks, 59, a former occupational therapist, carpenter and lecturer from Munslow, near Craven Arms, has been diabetic for 37 years, suffers heart disease and has had two operations on his prostate, most recently in June this year. He now suffers from vasculitis – an inflammation of the blood cells.

Mrs Spinks had to give up her job at Stretton Print & Supplies, Church Stretton, to look after him.

She said on one stay in September her husband asked for the duty doctor to note that the pain medication wasn't working and the duty doctor wrote on his chart "pain free today".

"He was also left on a diabetic pump that he was supposed to be controlling himself, but he was not in a state to do that, he was on morphine and confused," she said. She also said he was told there was nothing wrong with his eyes at RSH, she said, but a subsequent test in Birmingham Hospital found he had splintered nerves.

Another time he was put on steroids. She said: "His blood sugar was going mad, it should have been regulated but it wasn't so he went into hypoglycemic shock."

Mrs Spinks said he began getting numbness in his feet that he was told was a simply trapped nerve when in fact it was neuropathy – damage to his nervous system as a complication of his condition.

She also complained the hospital was not properly cleaned over Christmas, with rubbish still around four days after Christmas Day.

Dr Edwin Borman, medical director at The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, said today: "The trust's primary concern is to Mr Spinks and to providing the best possible care for him.

"I have twice met with Mrs Spinks to discuss her concerns and I have followed this with letters to her.

"We take very seriously all concerns about standards of healthcare in our hospitals, and when complaints are raised we investigate these thoroughly.

"We also welcome all feedback as this helps us improve the standards of care we offer."

Mrs Spinks said she wanted any patients or family who had similar experiences to get in touch with her at jillyspin@gmail.com