Coronavirus: Family of nurse who died say she was ‘neglected’ by the government

The husband of an NHS nurse who died after contracting coronavirus has said his wife was “neglected” by the government and more needs to be done to protect frontline workers.

Amor Padilla Gatinao, who worked at the NHS for 18 years, died on Friday after contracting COVID-19, the disease caused by coronavirus, last month.

Her husband Mario said he believes the 50-year-old caught the virus while working at St Charles Hospital in west London.

He said their three children have been left devastated by the loss and is calling for more protection for NHS staff.

Speaking exclusively to Sky News, he said: “Our youngest child is 14 years old and it is so hard. The pain is unbearable.

“I called the ambulance and they came to the house but refused to admit her to the hospital. They told her to take paracetamol. Her whole body was in pain. She couldn’t eat. She was diabetic and also had a heart condition.

“I don’t know why the government did not do more to protect NHS workers, like my wife. She was neglected. My children’s lives will never be the same again.”

Mr Padilla Gatinao described his wife’s final days as “very difficult”.

“She couldn’t sleep,” he said. “I begged the paramedic to do something, but they left us. I am so very upset.

“I drove her in my car to St Mary’s Hospital. She spent eight or nine days there and the last thing she told me was she wanted to go on to a ventilator.”

Mrs Padilla Gatinao, a clinical nurse assessor who moved to the UK in 2002, first felt symptoms of the respiratory disease on 22 March. She was intubated and put in an induced coma on 30 March.

She is the fifth Filipino nurse and 44th NHS worker to die after contracting the illness, according to Nursing Notes, a medical site which tracks staff fatalities.

A London ambulance spokesman told Sky News: “We sent an ambulance crew to the scene and treated a patient but did not take them to hospital. We are unaware of any further contact from that address.

“We would like to express our sympathy to the family at this very difficult time.”

Chemotherapy nurse Donald Suelto, 51, is another Filipino nurse who died after treating a patient who had tested positive for COVID-19.

His niece, Emelyne Suelto Robertson, a nurse in Scotland, said her uncle had dedicated his life to the UK’s health service after moving to the UK 18 years ago.

“He died all alone in his flat and I’m so sad we weren’t there for him,” she said. “His friends never heard from him, so they asked the police to go and check on him.”

According to Ms Robertson, her uncle’s body was later discovered by police after they searched his flat.

She echoed Mr Padilla Gatinao’s thoughts, saying that a failure to protect frontline staff may have had an impact on her uncle’s ability to respond to the crisis.

“There are a lot of Filipinos here working in the NHS who are single and have no family,” she said. “A lot of these people are dying alone with no one. We need to do more to help these people who have given their lives in this war.

“My uncle was lucky to have me as his next of kin but there are so many others who are dying with no one to support them. This needs to change. The government must protect other Filipino nurses from dying.”

Mr Suelto, who worked on a cancer ward in Hammersmith Hospital, west London, developed a sore throat, fever and cough within days of going into isolation.

“The patient who he came into contact with at the hospital had tested positive for the virus and he was told by his manager to go into isolation,” said Ms Robertson.

Mr Suelto, who was asthmatic, video-called his niece just days before he died. He told his family he wanted to fight the virus.

“The last conversation he had with his mum, who is in the Philippines, was a week ago,” she said. “He told us the way he felt he knew he wouldn’t survive. He told his mum, ‘This is not a virus. This is like a weapon that is attacking my body. It’s stabbing all the parts of my body’.

“He said he couldn’t fight it anymore. Some of his colleagues who he worked with have tested positive for the virus and they kept in touch with him towards the end.”

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(c) Sky News 2020: Coronavirus: Family of nurse who died say she was ‘neglected’ by the government