A terminally ill father was forced to wait for 25 hours for a bed in A&E during a ‘traumatic’ hospital visit.
Paul Hillman, 58, was diagnosed with stage three gallbladder cancer in April 2022 and was frequently rushed to A&E for infections because his immune system was weakened by several rounds of chemotherapy.
But his daughter Beth Hillman, 30, said he would be left in the waiting room and once waited for over 25 hours in a chair because there wasn’t a bed available.
Paul, from Penge, southeast London died in March, and now Beth is campaigning on Change.org for an alternative system – where cancer patients can get emergency care in a separate area of the hospital.
Beth, an associate director for a technology recruitment agency, said: ‘When dad was having chemo his immune system was shot to pieces.
Paul Hillman (right) with his daughter Beth (left) who is campaigning for cancer patients to get emergency care in A&E in a separate area of the hospital.
Paul once waited for over 25 hours in a chair because there wasn’t a bed available
Paul was frequently in A&E for infections because his immune system was weakened by several rounds of chemotherapy
‘Whenever he started getting achy, sick and shivery, the only way to fix him would be acute treatment in A&E.
‘The A&E trips were so traumatic – he was sat on plastic chairs, coughing and being sick.
‘We had to wait ages to do a blood test every time so they could tell us something we already knew.
‘There should be a route for cancer patients where they don’t have to go through that process.
‘And it puts unnecessary pressure on A&E staff too – when cancer patients often already know what treatment they need.
‘Sending an immunocompromised person through that system – making them sit with every other poorly person – feels wrong.
‘I love the NHS and I don’t want to bring it down given how much they supported my dad, but that aspect doesn’t sit right.’
Washing machine repair engineer Paul was first diagnosed with stage three cancer after a routine blood test.
Paul was first diagnosed with stage three cancer after a routine blood test in April 2022
Paul Hillman (right) with his family members. His daughter Beth watched her father’s health deteriorate after he was diagnosed with cancer
Paul was so unwell he was set up with an at-home hospital bed, before his death in March 2024
The only way to get IV antibiotics during treatment was to go to A&E and be triaged to the cancer wards, Beth said.
Beth said: ‘We once took him at 7pm and waited for five hours on hard chairs in the waiting room while he was shivering, in pain and throwing up.
‘The following morning he was still there and he didn’t get a proper bed until 8pm the following day – 25 hours after he arrived.
‘Another time it took 15 hours and he only had a chair. He had his feet in my lap in the hallway.’
By December 2023 Paul was so unwell he was set up with an at-home hospital bed, before his death in March 2024.
But Beth remembers the hours and days spent supporting her skeletal, terminally ill father in the A&E waiting room.
Beth decided to set up a petition so nobody else has to go through what her father did.
She said: ‘We would be sat there waiting, knowing exactly what my dad needed, but we couldn’t get it.
‘I’m still grieving losing dad but I still feel that’s so wrong. I dread to imagine what it’s like for people who don’t have lots of family support around them.’
Beth’s Change.org petition states ‘the NHS must change its system for providing emergency hospital access to cancer patients’ – calling the current system ‘inappropriate and inhumane’.
She said: ‘It rarely comes to my mind something that I feel so passionately about – something needs to change.’
