Family angry over care for dying dad; BLUNDERS: Relatives say father's final weeks were made worse by surgery blunders.

Byline: Alison Dayani

A CATALOGUE of blunders by a GP surgery turned a terminallyill cancer patient's final months into a "horrendous battle for basic care", his family revealed today.

When Navy veteran James Greaves was battling painful bowel and kidney cancer, a doctor from Great Barr's Collingwood Surgery even moaned at the family over visiting him at home for 'vertigo' - because he had the wrong patient notes and didn't realise it was cancer.

The complaint comes as Midland NHS organisations have emphasised the importance they put on End of Life care.

Errors by the practice in Collingwood Drive also included: n No GPs available all day because all had gone to a funeral.

n Not prescribing any oxygen when a district nurse reported Mr Greaves was struggling to breathe with pneumonia because the message was not logged.

n No doctor turning up for an emergency visit because it had been logged wrongly as completed.

n The surgery even lost a letter responding to family complaints because theyhad"runout of stamps" and sent it via the NHSWalsall post room.

Mr Greaves, a former Rover and Amec worker from Great Barr, was diagnosedwith a tumour in January but died on August 22, aged 77.

Distraught daughter Yvonne Davies, of Goodall Grove, Great Barr, said her father had wanted to make the most of his final months with loved ones but ended up feeling more stressed and anxious.

"My dadwas never ill but when he finally needed help fromthe surgery he was seriously let down," Yvonne said. "It was horrendous. All we seemed to be doing was battling the system to get a basic standard of care rather than making the most of my dad in his finalmonths.

"His final weeks at home were made a hundred times worse by the failures of Collingwood Surgery."

A letter by the surgery apologised for distress caused and acknowledged a doctor had thought the patient was suffering with vertigo during a visit as he had picked up another patient's notes. Another time, "an error" led to no doctor visiting as it wasmarked completed. Penny Tice, the practice manager, also acknowledged in a letter that Mr Greaves was suffering with a great deal of pain and discomfort, which "had not been helped by the standard of care he received from the surgery".

Michelle Cummings, spokeswoman for Collingwood Surgery andNHSWalsall primary care trust, said: "NHSWalsall does not discuss individual cases. A formal complaint has been raised and this is being dealt with in accordance with the complaints policy."

CAPTION(S):

Grieving: Yvonne Davis from Great Barr who is taking action over the alleged mis-treatment of her father, James Greaves, before his death from bowel cancer.