Patient who shamed NHS loses fight for life

A breast cancer victim who shamed the NHS into restoring vital life-saving equipment has lost her battle against the disease.

Janet McLeod died only days before being named one of Britain's most inspiring women. The 63- year- old, who won a major victory to reopen the specialist radiotherapy service at Hammersmith Hospital, was voted among the nation's leading female role models.

The mother of three fought for months to have the hyperthermic radiotherapy machine - the only one of its kind in Britain - put back into use. The equipment, which shrinks tumours that cannot be treated with conventional radiotherapy, lay idle because of funding shortages.

Her husband Ian, a retired brigadier, said today: "She died peacefully knowing that her efforts would help other people suffering from cancer." Mrs McLeod, who had an advanced form of cancer, was one of hundreds of patients being treated with hyperthermic radiotherapy at Hammersmith until she was told last September the machine was out of service. In desperation she was forced to seek the treatment in Rotterdam at a cost of £6,000, which did prolong her life, but doctors then discovered the cancer had spread to her brain and it was too late to save her.

To ensure other cancer patients would not suffer the same fate, Mrs McLeod launched a high-profile campaign to get the machine running again. The chief executive at Hammersmith, Derek Smith, eventually bowed to

pressure and promised to restore it.

A team of experts from the hospital flew to Rotterdam this year to visit another centre that provides hyperthermic radiotherapy to establish how the service could be run more cost effectively.

The hospital is now in the process of putting together a business plan to bid for funding for the machine.

A spokesman for Hammersmith Hospital said today: "A team did go from the trust earlier this year and it is fair to say they were very impressed with the treatment being offered in Rotterdam. What has to happen now is the hospital trust has to put together a business plan to persuade its funders that this service is needed. We are very distressed to hear about Janet McLeod's death."

Her plight was highlighted in the Evening Standard and this month, Good Housekeeping magazine carried out a survey which asked 16-18-year-old girls at 100 schools to name the women who most inspired them. Mrs McLeod came 23rd.

The former journalist beat the Queen who came 28th, Victoria Beckham, who was 26th on the list, and Margaret Thatcher who was number 30.

Mrs McLeod's funeral takes place on Monday in Chelsea.