A grandmother spent her last hours in hospital in agony while nurses gave her a blood transfusion, an inquest heard.

Heather Rood, a housewife and grandmother from Sea View Gardens, Warden Bay, Sheppey, was admitted to Medway Maritime Hospital, Gillingham, on February 26 last year, after complaining of severe stomach pains.

While on Will Adams ward her family says she suffered a massive bleed in the toilet, vomited and said she was in pain and feeling sick. But they say nurses did not give any pain relief and began a transfusion on February 28.

During the procedure Mrs Rood suffered a cardiac arrest and died. She was 62. Her family claims nurses did not call an emergency doctor in time.

In a written statement to Sonia Hayes, the assistant coroner for Mid-Kent and Medway, Mrs Rood's son Jamie Lambert said he had raised concerns about care and treatment at the hospital.

He said: "She was a strong and determined woman and not frail or old. No one expected her to die."

He said she had been admitted previously to the hospital for gastric bleeding but there had been "no significant" investigations into the cause. She was discharged prematurely, he claimed, and had to be readmitted as an emergency with rectal bleeding.

Mr Lambert said: "My mother suffered a massive rectal bleed in the toilet and pulled the emergency cord and screamed for help. She said she had never seen so much blood before. Another patient reached her first. When a nurse arrived she asked 'What have you done?'"

He added: "An hour before my mother died she Face-timed us and said she had severe abdominal pain and couldn't take any more.

"We asked staff to bleep a doctor but they said she was on a ward round and would be there shortly. They didn't seem concerned. Her vital signs were showing significant deterioration but the nurse continued to give her a blood transfusion without any analgesia."

He said: "We want to know if my mother's death had been avoidable."

He says there was no reference to the massive bleed in the medical notes, adding: "No one knew the cause of the bleeding. Perhaps if she had been given a colonscopy sooner she would have survived instead of becoming a statistic?"

The Maidstone inquest heard on Friday that Mrs Rood died from a bowel haemorrhage.

It was adjourned until April 14 to hear from the hospital's doctors.

Medway NHS Trust has been approached for a comment.

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