The letter from Pauline Wicks ( News Shopper, November 21) concerning her mother's treatment in Lewisham Hospital is so much like my mother's treatment at Greenwich Hospital.

She was diagnosed with lung cancer in January 2001. She had attended both Guys Hospital for three years and Greenwich Hospital in the last year of her life. Not one doctor ever gave her an x-ray or suggested anything was seriously wrong with her and fobbed her off saying her problems were due to her arthritis.

Her stay in Greenwich Hospital was a horror story. Her fellow patients were marvellous and kept us informed of everything that happened when we weren't there. This included my mother trying to get out of the bed in a very distressed state when she needed to go to the toilet.

The ward was filthy. It had thick dust under the bed and old disused equipment in the corridors. My mother was a wonderful woman who was let down by the health service and the so called "angels" working at Greenwich Hospital.

Greenwich now has a new home in a very nice building, the trouble is they still have the same staff who left my mother to die in agony and with no dignity whatsoever. God help anyone who has to be admitted there.

Julie Costin

Tunnel Avenue

Greenwich

November 27, 2001 16:44