A WHITEHAVEN mother who was suffering from an undetected throat tumour died suddenly during a seven-month wait for a hospital appointment.

The family of 57-year-old Norma Smith was devastated when she collapsed outside a doctor’s surgery in October last year, and died a short time later.

Following Mrs Smith’s death, a post-mortem was carried out and it was revealed she died of heart disease and an oesophageal tumour. Neither of these had been diagnosed prior to her death.

Now Mrs Smith’s daughter, Alisha, has lodged an official complaint with the North Cumbria University Hospitals Trust, raising concerns about the length of waiting time for an appointment for her mother to see an ear, nose and throat specialist.

Alisha said her mother had been complaining about having a sore throat for over 12 months, but she felt nothing had been done to help her. Following her mother’s death, Alisha found a letter sent to Mrs Smith dated May 19 confirming an appointment at Workington Community Hospital, listed for December 1.

Alisha said: “If mam had been given an earlier appointment, they might have seen it before. We could have given her the love and support that she needed. I carry that guilt around with me.

“She was saying that she wasn’t well. She kept on going to the doctors and going up to the A&E at West Cumberland Hospital.”

Mrs Smith also suffered from bi-polar disorder, chest pains and sore ears. Alisha said that on numerous occasions her mother had been told the pains were due to stress, the medication she was on and to change her diet.

She said: “My mam suffered from bi-polar, they put her on different medication. She kept on saying she couldn’t breathe and she would rub her throat. That was constant for about a year.”

Mrs Smith was due to have a doctor’s appointment on October 12 last year to go for blood tests.

Alisha said: “She texted me to say she was going to the doctor’s. She said she wasn’t well and she loved me. Then we found out later that day that she had died.”

An ambulance was called and she was taken to West Cumberland Hospital, where medics were unable to save her.

Alisha said her father, Jim, told her that her mother had died. “I can still remember the words and I didn’t believe it. I thought they’d got the wrong person, I thought mam would just walk through the door at any time,” she said.

Alisha paid tribute to her mother, saying: “Mam was great, she was caring and kind. I could tell her anything.”

Mrs Smith, née McKinney, grew up in Mirehouse and to attend Whitehaven School. In her teens, she was a keen ballroom dancer and travelled to various dance competitions.

She married Jim Smith, also of Whitehaven. The family recently moved to Workington. Mrs Smith worked as a carer in the Workington area, but had to give up her work due to ill health. Prior to Mrs Smith’s death, she lived at Hyde Street, Workington.

In response to the complaint, a hospital spokesperson said: “We are unable to discuss individual patient concerns with third parties as we need to preserve and protect rights to confidentiality.

“We would encourage anyone who has a concern over any aspect of our care or service to contact us directly and we would be very happy to investigate.”

According to NHS guidelines, there should be a maximum wait of 18 weeks from referral, unless patients choose to wait longer, or it is clinically appropriate that they wait longer.