A GP says her husband was denied life-saving treatment at Chase Farm Hospital because staff did not have the expertise to treat him.

Dr Pia Kolman, 72, from Oakwood, said: “My husband did not need to die.”

Dr Kolman, has made a formal complaint about Chase Farm Hospital to the health service ombudsman after a long battle to get answers regarding his treatment.

“I regret he was taken to Chase Farm Hospital because I believe he could have been helped elsewhere,” she said.

Terminally ill Vladimir Kol-man, 71, was admitted to Chase Farm in the early hours of July 27 last year with rectal bleeding, but according to Dr Kolman he was not given a blood transfusion until 12.30pm — seven hours after he was first admitted.

He died in the early hours of the following morning, a week before he was due to start a course of chemotherapy for bowel cancer at the Royal Marsden Hospital in a bid to prolong his life.

She said: “He still believed he would survive. In about eight days it was to be our 46th wedding anniversary. I said, ‘Hold on’ and he said, ‘Of course I will, don’t worry’.”

Practising GP Dr Kolman, who worked at a surgery in Palmers Green for several years, maintained her husband was reasonably fit and able to walk and drive without pain.

She claimed three Chase Farm consultants decided not to block the artery causing the bleeding, after being phoned by a registrar.

“It was all speculation because none of the consultants had examined him,” she said.

“They did not have the expertise to do it. They also refused to transfer him to another hospital with this expertise. Later, when he deteriorated, he was refused transfer to the intensive care unit.”

A letter to Dr Kolman from the hospital said the procedure would have been “very difficult if not impossible” and “inappropriate” and she had been told this at the time.

It said Mr Kolman was pale and thin on admission, had cancer complications and had been diagnosed in 1999.

However, Dr Kolman said her husband was only diagnosed in 2007 and was a normal weight.

In a statement, Chase Farm Hospital said: “We can confirm that following routine discussions with the coroner’s office at the time of Mr Kolman’s death, this case was not the subject of an inquest.

“In the light of an ongoing complaints investigation, it would be inappropriate for us to comment further at this stage. We would like to offer our sincere condolences to the Kolman family.”