A grieving man has claimed his dying partner was "sent home to starve" by a Norwich hospital.

Mick Grant, 58, saw his girlfriend Teresa Andrews admitted to the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital (NNUH) in November 2020.

Ms Andrews suffered with advanced multiple sclerosis (MS) and was admitted to hospital after also experiencing excruciating jaw pain.

Her partner, who was also her carer, was told she would be discharged the same day but after six hours of calling to no avail, Mr Grant was eventually told she would be kept overnight.

He said: “She was asked if she wanted carers set up at home and she said no. Because of that she was kept in - even though she didn’t want to be.

“In the eight days that followed I heard very little of what was happening.

“When I did go and see her it was shocking. She went from being able to stay steady for some of the time to not being able to even sit up anymore.

“I pleaded with the hospital to let her come home. The stress of being there was making her illness so much worse.”

Mr Grant, who lives in Mile Cross, has since had an apology from the hospital.

It added a full investigation has been carried out.

Mr Grant continued: "When she came home she was far more disabled than they'd told me about.

“She couldn't even put her hand to her mouth to feed herself. She was refusing to eat because of the pain still in her jaw and they did nothing.

"They sent her home to starve to death.”

Days later Teresa was in “more pain than she had ever been in” and was admitted to hospital once again.

It was here that eight of her teeth were removed – two with abscesses found beneath.

Because Teresa was running a temperature she was also put on a Covid ward as a preventative measure.

Teresa was kept in for a further two weeks and was discharged in January 2021.

Mr Grant said: “She came home with little pain relief and was still starving herself because of how much agony she was in with the teeth taken out.

“Then five days after that she was admitted again after suffering with strokes – and she had tested positive for Covid.

“An MS nurse said that she was now terminal and that we only had weeks or months left together.”

Palliative care began in hospital before she was taken to the Priscilla Bacon Lodge for treatment.

On February 13, aged 59, Teresa died.

Mick added: “The only responsibility the hospital has really accepted to me is that they missed the opportunity to find the abscess sooner.”

After Teresa's death, Mick complained to the hospital, along with the Information Commissioner's Office, CQC and Local Government Ombudsman.

The Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital’s medical director, Professor Erika Denton, said: “We are very sorry for the distress Mr Grant has experienced and offer our sincere condolences.

"We take any complaint extremely seriously and have carried out a full and detailed investigation into Ms Andrew’s treatment while she was in our care.

“We have written to Mr Grant with our findings and hope that this response helps to explain that staff were doing all they could to manage Ms Andrews’ multiple and complex conditions, and did take into account their clear wishes.

"We appreciate that this must have been a year of incredible pain and sadness for Mr Grant and wish him every strength going forward."

Mick has chosen to honour Teresa’s memory through performance and shared songs written about her in a performance at the Brickmaker’s last week.

He said: "There's a song that we do called Spin My Wheels, which was the last one I ever wrote for Teresa. I read her the words, but she didn't live to hear the full song.

"The wheels are the ones on her wheelchair and we had it played at her funeral. It was lovely tribute to her.”