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7th October 2023
04:41pm BST
A loving father died at the age of just 40 after struggling to get an NHS appointment for six weeks.
Kevin Gillet was diagnosed with terminal liver cancer which had metastasised to his blood, lungs, and lymph nodes.
He was initially given a prognosis of just four months, but sadly died much sooner, reports the Liverpool Echo.
His mum said that Kevin faced difficulties in securing an in-person doctor's appointment for six weeks.
By the time he was seen in June he had deteriorated to the extent that he couldn't hold down food.
Just a week on from his appointment, Kevin received a phone call from a nurse who told him to immediately report to the Royal Liverpool Hospital where doctors were expecting him.
His mum explained: "He had high calcium levels. I knew straight away it's indicative of advanced cancer because I've had it happen to someone I know."
She added: "He'd been feeling quite unwell since having Covid after Christmas but by the end of April, May, he was finding he couldn't eat at all and was vomiting. Six weeks he was trying to get an appointment.
"I feel like he's been badly let down by the whole system. I couldn't knock the nurses. They are amazing. But it's the whole system - they're not seeing people and doing tests before it gets to that stage.
"The staff are trying their best. It's the whole process. I don't know why they're not getting face-to-face appointments.
"I know there's a backlog after Covid. We just feel that when somebody has a chronic condition anyway that they would monitor it more closely and not do a telephone appointment."
Tragic.
