When a Colwyn Bay woman died her family suspected that her death was related to the fact that a stent which should have been replaced every six months had not been replaced for 21 months.

At an inquest in Ruthin a consultant explained that that was not the case and that Beryl Jean Casey had had cancer ever since she received the kidney stent in 2014 – though her family had not been told.

Her son, the Rev Trevor Casey, said they had not seen any reference to cancer and it had come as a surprise to them.

Consultant urologist Mr Vaikuntam Srvinisan, who had not been involved in Mrs Casey’s care and treatment at Glan Clwyd Hospital, said he could find no record of anyone having mentioned cancer to her family.

“That gravely disappoints me,” he said.

John Gittins, coroner for North Wales East and Central, said he was also disappointed, adding: “It staggers me that no-one was told.”

Mrs Casey, aged 82, a former nurse, died at the Bryn Eithin Home, Colwyn Bay, on September 14, 2018, just hours after being discharged from hospital.

The inquest at Ruthin heard that the cause of death was metastatic bladder cancer, and the Rev Trevor Casey, said that on several occasions when she had been admitted to hospital with urinary tract infections they had asked whether it had anything to do with the fact that her stent had not been changed for so long.

She had the stent fitted in May,2014, after a kidney failure and, in line with guidelines, it was renewed at intervals up to September 2016.

Mr Srvinisan, giving evidence remotely because he was in quarantine after visiting India, said that “in an ideal world” stents should be changed every six months but it could be a risky process if the patient was unwell, as Mrs Casey was.

He told the inquest that a “traffic-light system” had since been introduced to monitor patients waiting for replacement stents, but said the delay did not play a part in Mrs Casey’s deterioration.

Recording a conclusion of natural causes, the coroner said he had originally had concerns about the effect of the lengthy delay in replacing the stent but after hearing the evidence he did not see the need to issue a Regulation 28 report to prevent future deaths.

He said that since Mrs Casey’s death he had not been made aware of any similar cases, but added: “It is something I will continue to monitor.”