A DISTRAUGHT widow said her desperate and dehydrated husband cried out for water at a Worcestershire hospital the day before he died.

Grandfather Laurence Hodges, of Cotswold Rise, Evesham, was cared for at the Alexandra Hospital in Redditch in the stroke ward after suffering a stroke which affected his right side.

The 71-year-old died at the Bristol Heart Institute following a brain haemorrhage on Wednesday, January 26.

He was transferred there after he was admitted to the Alex a fortnight before on Tuesday, January 11.

But his wife of 18 years, Patricia Hodges, is convinced the poor care he received at the Alex contributed to his death.

She had begged staff to move him to Bristol following the excellent care he received there but he died the day after he was transferred because it was, she said, too late to save him.

Mrs Hodges, aged 73, also says she was told by a female doctor at the Alex he would not be resuscitated even though she had never given permission for them to withdraw treatment and was told “we don’t need your permission”.

As we reported in the Worcester News last week the Alexandra Hospital was the subject of a damning report by the Care Quality Commission.

Inspectors said they had major concerns about patient nutrition – some even had to be prescribed water to make sure they got something to drink.

Mrs Hodges, who travelled to the hospital by bus every day, told staff at the Alex she thought he should be in intensive care.

She said: “I said, ‘Have you given him any water?’ They said, ‘He can’t have water – he will choke’. I said to him, ‘Are you thirsty sweetheart?’ and he said, ‘Yes, yes, yes’.

"Those were the last words he ever said to me. His mouth and lips were crusty and his tongue was a weird colour.

“He kept on putting out his tongue for water. There was a swab on the side. I picked up that swab and I put it in some water.

“My husband was nearly swallowing the water but I was frightened he would choke. He was fighting me to take the water off this little bit of cotton wool. They just left my husband next to people who were dying.

“They just didn’t bother. I tried to get him back to hospital in Bristol, to save him. It’s true what that report says.”

Mrs Hodges says she never saw a food trolley at the Alex and the use of a hoist to lift up her husband broke his ribs which were still fragile following open heart surgery in Bristol.

She also said his dentures were removed and placed in a locker. She added: “How could he eat a meal if he had no teeth? They took his dignity.”

Worcestershire Acute Hospitals Trust chief executive John Rostill said: “We are sorry to learn that the family of Lawrence Hodges are not happy with the care he received at the Alexandra Hospital in January of this year.

“We will be contacting them directly so that we can look together at where aspects of care was inadequate and ensure that appropriate action is taken. “