Sharon Bygate on how her husband Andrew was looked after at Ellen Badger Hospital in his final days with help from Shipston Home Nursing

IN the past Shipston’s Ellen Badger Hospital offered crucial palliative care to patients facing the last days of their lives.

Among those calling for community beds to be retained at the hospital is mum-of-three Sharon Bygate, from Willington near Shipston, whose husband Andrew died from a brain tumour at the Ellen Badger aged just 46 in October 2014.

Sharing her family’s story, Sharon told the Herald: “Andrew was diagnosed with glioblastoma multiform brain tumour in September 2006, it was a week after our third baby had been born.”

The couple had faced a battle to get a diagnosis for Andrew, who ran his own building merchants business employing 200 people.

Sharon explained: “For a while Andrew had seemed detached, like he didn’t really care, which was not his personality at all, it was odd. Then he just kept sleeping more, and he’d been elevating his pillows – we hadn’t realised it was the pressure on his head when he was laying flat was too much.

“We went to see doctors and God knows how many people. I eventually suggested a brain tumour to a specialist. He wasn’t convinced, but I knew deep down that something was very wrong.”

Sadly, Sharon’s gut feeling was right and a scan revealed a massive brain tumour.

“We were told it would have to come out and sent straight to hospital in Oxford. He started fitting on the way there – epilepsy is a classic sign of a brain tumour.

“He had surgery and they gave him two years to live. He lived for eight and he had three surgeries in total.”

Sharon describes how as the loving dad and husband was reaching the end of this life in 2014 they had to make decisions about his care.

“Andrew was in a hospital bed in our bedroom. Our three children were little and I didn’t want him to die at home and for them to look at that empty space next to our bed where Daddy had been. I looked at Myton Hospice in Warwick and it’s an amazing facility but it was 45 minutes away, and it just didn’t feel right.”

Sharon consulted with the nurses from Shipston Home Nursing, and they suggested the Ellen Badger.

“They said we’ll nurse him at night, and you can be with him as much as you like,” continued Sharon. “They literally left the door open for us. He spent the last week of his life there and it was amazing. It was a wonderful collaboration between our GP at Shipston and the nurses.”

Just over ten years on from Andrew’s death, Sharon says she is able to look back and be at least thankful for the care given to Andrew.

“Obviously his death was traumatic, but to a degree it was at least that was done right,” she said.

“It’s exhausting having someone dying anyway, the whole process is awful, you are trying to deal with your children who can see their dad is dying.

“I was trying to keep life as normal as possible, it was mentally draining. You can’t think straight. But at least my family could support me by going in to see Andrew. I didn’t want him left on his own so it meant while they visited I could spend time with the children, cook their dinner knowing that someone was with him was crucial. I couldn’t have had that at Warwick.”

Lending her support to campaigners fighting the permanent removal of beds at Shipston, Sharon said: “I’m disgusted by the removal of the beds. And what has happened to all the money donated by the local community – all the legacies left in people’s wills? It all feels really wrong, like there's something really underhand going on.”

Sharing a few final thoughts on how life has been for her and the children – now aged 18, 20 and 22 – since Andrew died, Sharon said: “It’s been tough, he was such an inspiration and had a massive personality. We miss him so much, and talk about him all the time.”

Thinking of how others from the Shipston community no longer have inpatient care locally, Sharon added: “We have an elderly population. If someone’s husband or wife is taken to Warwick and they can’t drive they face a two-hour bus journey – and they themselves probably have their own health issues. It is all really, really wrong.”

In response to the loss of community beds, including palliative care and the Bygate family’s experience, Laura Nelson, chief integration officer of Coventry and Warwickshire Integrated Care Board, said: “I completely appreciate that many people in Shipston have received high-quality care at the Ellen Badger Hospital over the years. For people who think they have lost services, in order to ensure that Ellen Badger is fit for purpose and aligns with the NHS Long Term Plan, there has been £8.2m invested into a new, modern healthcare facility that will bring more specialities and clinics closer to the local communities in and around Shipston. The focus for this type of facility is preventative and community-based healthcare that promotes independence and reduces hospital stays.

“The new Ellen Badger Hospital will provide enhanced clinical spaces for outpatient services, including specialties like audiology, heart failure, Parkinson’s Disease clinics, antenatal clinics, and shared spaces for community nursing teams. In addition, the number of specialities running clinics is expected to grow in the future.”