THE grieving family of a Gwent cancer victim claim he was let down by the NHS and stripped of dignity during his final hours.

Fifty-eight year-old Barrie Webb was discharged from Newport's Royal Gwent Hospital on June 18 after a two-day stay.

His sisters Janet Reaney, from Newport, and Joyce Bishop, of Blackwood, (both pictured) claim he was gravely ill.

Two days later Mr Webb was readmitted by his GP and soon afterwards was diagnosed as suffering from terminal cancer.

Mrs Reaney described his last days as "a nightmare."

The day before he died, on a ward with 16 patients she said, there was only one qualified nurse.

Family members were left to tend him, mopping up vomit and trying to keep him comfortable. He died shortly after midnight on July 17.

Mrs Reaney and Mrs Bishop have struggled to come to terms with the loss of their "kind, hardworking and popular" brother.

They are demanding to know why he was discharged in the state he was in, and why there were not enough nurses to attend him during his final hours.

A Royal Gwent spokesman said: "Gwent Healthcare Trust is aware of the complaints, and an investigation is under way.

"We have received a letter from Mr Webb's sister asking us to look into a number of issues relating to his care," he said.

"We will be contacting his family with a full report as soon as our investigations are complete."

Mr Webb went to the Royal Gwent's accident and emergency department after becoming progressively ill during May and early June.

His sister claimed that he had lost two stones in weight, his stomach was severely swollen, he was very weak and in a great deal of pain.

Mr Webb, who lived alone in Newport, went to stay with Mrs Bishop, but she claims he was desperately ill.

"It was terrible to see him like that. They may not have known he had second stage cancer then, but it was obvious there was something very wrong," she said.

Terminal cancer was diagnosed following readmission, but doctors could not discover the source.

"They never did. We still don't know where the cancer started," said Mrs Reaney who added: "He went downhill very quickly and was on a ward which was far too noisy - children running around - for someone in his condition.

"In the end, when he was in pain and vomiting a lot, we had to ask for something to wipe it up with and then do it ourselves or it would have been left for who knows how long. "I was told on the occasion when there was only one qualified nurse on the ward, that agency staff hadn't turned up.

"They might not have been able to save him, but my brother's treatment was not acceptable in what is meant to be a developed country.

"Barrie worked hard all his life, paid his taxes and his National Insurance, but when he needed help he didn't get what he was entitled to. That makes us very angry and very bitter."