A GRANDMOTHER died at home only 24 hours after her admission to hospital was cancelled because there were no beds available.

Now her husband is threatening to sue North Manchester General Hospital to find out if the delay cost his wife her life.

Ann Melody (56) should have gone into hospital last Thursday, only for her admission to be put back a day. The next day she died as ambulancemen waited to take her into hospital.

Husband John said: "I just want to know why Ann was allowed to die.

"I know it was a pulmonary embolism, which is classed as natural causes so there will not be an inquest, so it may be that suing the hospital is the only way to really get at the truth."

Mrs Melody, who weighed around 16 stone, had been in poor health for 17 years suffering from a range of conditions.

"In February, she was in the hospital in a great deal of pain which they suspected were gall stones. X-rays found nothing and she was sent back home," said Mr Melody. "Since then she has needed a stick to help her walk.

"By the beginning of June she was unable to stand, or sit up by herself, the main area of pain was in her hip.

"On June 4 she saw a consultant at the hospital and he said he wanted to admit her, but there were no beds available.

"Since then I have telephoned our GP and the consultant's secretary almost daily. Everyone agreed she needed to go into hospital but there was never a bed available." Last week the couple were finally told Mrs Melody would be admitted on Thursday, June 12.

"It was all that was keeping us going over those last few days. Ann was in such great pain, our GP even gave her morphine patches but they didn't seem to work," he said.

"When the ambulance didn't arrive on Thursday morning and I telephoned, I was again told that the bed had been cancelled."

The next day an ambulance finally arrived at their home in Hampden Street, Prestwich to take Mrs Melody to hospital.

As the ambulance drivers waited at the door, Mr Melody prepared his wife for the trip.

"As I looked at her on the bed her eyes rolled up and all her colour had gone," Mr Melody recalled.

"I shouted for the paramedics who tried resuscitation and then took her to hospital where they continued. But after about ten minutes I was told she had died."

"I just cannot believe that this sort of thing can happen and I want a full explanation and investigation," he said.

"If I have to sue the hospital in order to find out the full truth then I will."

Mrs Melody's funeral takes place on Tuesday.

ZA North Manchester NHS Healthcare Trust spokesman said the pulmonary embolism from which Mrs Melody died was not connected with her hip problem - the reason she was being admitted.

"They are difficult to diagnose, occur without warning and large ones can often prove fatal, even if a patient is already in hospital," said the spokesman.

"We offer our sincere condolences to Mr Melody."

The trust spokesman added: "Most nights for the last few months the hospital has been full."

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