A CANCER sufferer who was given a positive prognosis died suddenly after contracting a deadly bug in a hospital ward.

Eileen Dee, 68, is thought to have contracted deadly infection pseudomonas aeruginosa through the shower at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton.

Lawyers acting for her husband have blamed the outbreak on “serious errors and gross negligence” in the cleaning of the haematology oncology unit.

The hospital itself reported a “back-flow of sewage into the showers” with the same bacteria that killed Eileen discovered as long ago as 2010.

Her husband René Dee, 69, of Brighton, has come forward after criminal charges were brought against the Royal Sussex for a similar case.

Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals Trust recently pleaded guilty to a criminal charge of putting patients at risk over a period of more than six years.

Contractor Sodexo has been responsible for cleaning since 2012 with their “assurance process not working effectively” at the time.

Sodexo’s cleaning contract with the trust will end early in July 2015.

Mr Dee described the pain and trauma of watching his wife struggling for breath with pneumonia after contracting the infection.

He said: “It was such a shock, one minute everyone was telling her how well she was doing and the next moment I am watching her struggling to breathe. It happened so quickly.”

Mr Dee was moved from the Brighton hospital to the Eastbourne District General Hospital (DGH) after a bug was discovered in her ward.

Despite the move she died later in the Eastbourne hospital.

Sussex legal firm Mayo Wynne Baxter is dealing with the case and argues that if proper information had been passed on then an antibiotic called colistin could have been given to Eileen.

Dr R Johnston, consultant haematologist, said: “We as a team feel it might have made a difference.” Melanie Minter, of Mayo Wynne Baxter, said: “If proper information had been provided to Eastbourne DGH then the colistin antibiotic could have been given to Mrs Dee.”

She said Mrs Dee should have gone on to be successfully treated for her cancer. At a meeting with Mr Dee and his son following her death in Eastbourne, Dr Boyd said that Mrs Dee was being treated with curative intent and her death was “unexplained.”

René has received a letter from Matthew Kershaw, chief executive of Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust, in which he wrote: “Please accept my sincere condolences on the death of your beloved wife, Eileen.

“I can only imagine the devastating loss you must feel.”

Mum died before son had chance to say goodbye

EILEEN Dee died just hours before her son Matthew arrived at the hospital from overseas to see her one last time.

When she was admitted to the Royal Sussex County Hospital, apart from a new diagnosis of acute myeloid leukaemia, she was in good health.

Initially she was intent on receiving only palliative care after watching her mother’s long, drawn out death from cancer.

But she agreed to chemotherapy after being told it would give her the best prospect of survival. She had her first chemotherapy session in August 2013. But the chemotherapy made her immune system weak and susceptible to infection.

After an outbreak of infection at the Royal Sussex County Hospital, pictured right, with the bug specifically detected in her room, she was transferred to Eastbourne District General Hospital.

But there was no record of communication between the two hospitals to pass on crucial information that Eileen had been exposed to a potentially lethal infection.

The referral form by a student nurse mentioned an “infection control issue” but failed to provide potentially life-saving information about the pseudomonas outbreak.

Widower René Dee said: “One of the most difficult decisions I have had to make was when to get my son, Matthew, home from overseas but by the time I phoned him it was too late.

“He arrived in the morning of her death but, unavoidably, four to five hours too late.”

He added: “The sudden death of my wife through causes that were wholly unrelated to her illness has been very difficult to try and come to terms with.

“Cleanliness and infection control is essential in any part of a hospital but, it is so much more important in an oncology department where patients are being progressively stripped of their natural defences by treatments such as chemotherapy.”

He has received a letter from Matthew Kershaw, chief executive of Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust, where he wrote: “Please accept my sincere condolences on the death of your beloved wife, Eileen.

“I can only imagine the devastating loss you must feel.”

A spokesperson for Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals said: “The very sad death of Mrs Dee is the subject of ongoing legal proceedings and we are therefore unable to comment further at this time.”