THE family of a terminally ill cancer patient has said she has been let down by the health service by its failure to provide her with night care.

Louie McCrickard, 80, from Gainford, near Barnard Castle, County Durham, has an aggressive form of bone cancer, which has left her needing almost constant supervision.

Mrs McCrickard wants to remain at home throughout her illness, but her family has found it difficult to find nursing cover to look after her at night. The situation has meant that Mrs McCrickard's day carer, Rose Martin, has had to sit with her on a voluntary basis.

Mrs McCrickard's daughter, Janet, who lives in Darlington, has to take medication for a mental health problem and suffers from severe migraines and so is unable to provide the amount of cover required.

Mrs McCrickard said: "Rose has been an absolute angel, I don't know what I would have done without her.

"I don't want someone to be at my beck and call, only at hand.

"When I take my medication, I don't know what I'm doing and can be very disoriented and confused.

"I'm frightened at being left alone in case something happens. I feel very, very vulnerable and am just disgusted at the whole affair."

Mrs McCrickard's son, John, who lives near Cambridge, said despite the billions of pounds which have been invested in the health service, it has got worse since his father, Wilfrid, a former Teesdale council chairman, died of cancer eight years ago.

Mr McCrickard said: "There has been a signal failure of the system, I've never know a system fail so badly.

"In the war, she was a fire watcher in Newcastle, standing on top of a building in air raids looking for fires.

"She's done her innings in life and this is what you get."

Nicki Tulloch, a health link carer from Durham Dales Action for Carers, said: "This isn't an isolated incident and the problem is something we have come across before.

"There does appear to be a gap in the provision for night carers."

Christina Howarth, the director of nursing at the Durham Dales Primary Care Trust, said Mrs McCrickard had night sits for three nights this week and there were night sits available for the weekend.

She said: "Obviously they are a family under great stress as it's a very, very emotional time.

"I'm disappointed that there has been this misunderstanding. We do offer a very robust night sit service. We are covering the whole of the Durham Dales and the nurses have discussed all this with the family.

"While we don't guarantee sits every night, at the end of the day the majority of sits are provided.

"We have a good palliative care service and work with Marie Curie and Hospice at Home and it is a service which is not provided in some other parts of the country."