Wycombe Hospital refused to let a man have a ‘simple blood test’ related to his cancer, his wife has said as she called for health facilities in the town to be improved.

John Withey, 76, had a bladder operation at Wycombe Hospital in July and was discharged on the afternoon of England’s 2-1 loss to Spain in the final of the Euros.

But several hours later as the match kicked off, John’s wife Pauline, 74, received a call from the hospital, saying that there was a problem with his bloods and that he must go to Stoke Mandeville immediately for tests.

She questioned why her husband could not return to Wycombe Hospital, where he had been only hours earlier, and pointed out that she and other family members had been enjoying a drink while watching the football.

Pauline told the Bucks Free Press this week: “I said, ‘I’m not going over to Stoke Mandeville now at nine o’clock on a Sunday night’. I’d been drinking and couldn’t drive and was not going to get a taxi over there.”

The retired accounts manager said it would have taken just a few minutes for her and John, a retired engineer, to get a taxi to Wycombe Hospital from their home in Bassetsbury Lane.

On Monday morning, she decided to drive John to Stoke Mandeville herself so he could get his bloods checked.

Pauline said: “Why couldn’t they just let us go back into Wycombe? He’d just come out of there.

“They could have taken him into the ward in Wycombe and taken his bloods then, instead of making us go all the way to Stoke Mandeville. This is what infuriates me.”

John added: “It’s not life-threatening. I couldn’t understand why they couldn’t just take me to Wycombe Hospital to get my bloods taken and go home.

“They could have done a simple blood test and sent me home because I am so close.”

The retiree, who has a catheter fitted, said he was losing a lot of blood from leaking into his bladder and had low haemoglobin levels and low blood pressure.

John was diagnosed with prostate cancer, which spread to his bones, and has suffered serious blood clots, including in his bladder, which have prevented him from going to the toilet.

Towards the end of September into October, he required a washout of his bladder and further blood tests over several days but was again told to go to Stoke Mandeville for the procedures.

Pauline again tried to arrange for her husband to have the procedures at Wycombe Hospital but was told John must go to Stoke Mandeville.

She estimated she did around 400 miles of driving over consecutive days as she ferried John back and forth to Aylesbury.

The resident said: “It is just frustrating. It makes it so hard. I don’t like driving in the dark because of my eyes. If he goes back into hospital in a couple of months, it’ll be dark at four o’clock in the afternoon.

“I have no choice. It is annoying me that I have to go to Stoke Mandeville when I could go to Wycombe.”

John added that he would like to see Wycombe Hospital ‘be capable of handling simple procedures’ such as blood tests.

He said: “They are not major issues. This is not life-threatening on a day-to-day basis and some of the things they do are quite minor. It’s not big stuff, it’s not stuff that you have to traipse all around the country to get to.”

The couple, who have four children and eight grandchildren between them, have echoed calls by campaigners for Wycombe Hospital’s facilities to be improved.

The site has a backlog of repairs of around £100 million, according to Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust, much of which relates to its crumbling 1960s tower, which is set to be demolished in the coming years.

Pauline said she had ‘no criticism’ of the ‘excellent’ doctors and nurses in Wycombe and Aylesbury and praised their ‘good’ response to John’s cancer.

But the resident criticised the lack of a proper emergency services at Wycombe after the A&E was closed and moved to Stoke Mandeville in 2006.

She explained she knew of a woman who injured herself outside the hospital in around 2011 but could not be treated there.

Pauline said: “We had a friend that fell over in the snow outside Wycombe Hospital. She had a broken arm, and she had to go to Stoke Mandeville. It is crazy.”

The resident added that the number of people travelling from Wycombe and other areas for care in Aylesbury had put additional pressure on services there.

She said: “Stoke Mandeville can’t manage. It is absolutely broken. There is no parking, you have to fight for a car park space.

“We have seen people sleeping in the waiting room in reclining chairs because there are no beds for them. It is a nightmare at Stoke Mandeville. It is diabolical over there.”

John argued there should be a proper emergency department in Wycombe, given the population of the town and its wider area is around 170,000.

He said: “Surely, we ought to have an A&E. We have a minor trauma unit but that’s just for big splinters and little cuts.”

Asked what she would like to see at Wycombe Hospital, Pauline added: “Just the availability for people like us or anybody. Just the facilities for you to go to Wycombe Hospital.”

Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust told the Free Press it was 'sorry Mr and Mrs Withey felt they were asked to make unreasonable journeys to attend hospital procedures and tests'.

A spokesperson said: “We are unable to share details about the care of individual patients but would encourage Mr and Mrs Withey to contact the Trust to discuss any concerns they have.

“The Trust constantly reviews its procedures to ensure that any recalls or appointments for tests are made appropriately to ensure the best possible patient care.”