A GRANDFATHER has revealed how he was diagnosed with cancer - 20 months after being referred for tests.

George Oliver first saw medics because he was having trouble swallowing food and was told he would need a specialist examination.

But it wasn't until last week he was finally given an endoscopy - where a miniature camera is swallowed to examine a patient's insides - that it was revealed he had cancer of the stomach lining.

George, 66, said: "When the doctor told me, I said I wasn't surprised I had cancer with the amount of time it had taken me to get there.

"They have told me I can have an operation, so it is not life threatening at this stage.

"But if I had got in there sooner, it might not have come to this.

"Now I am in the same situation again - just waiting to hear from them, this time about the operation."

The plumbing and eating engineer, of Birtley, near Gateshead, began having problems after a hernia operation in 1996.

He said the first specialist said the discomfort may be due to the surgery, while a second said he needed an endoscopy and would be sent for.

"I still hadn't heard anything by April this year so my local GP wrote on my behalf.

"Even when I got back from my holiday in June, I had not had a reply. In the end, I telephoned them myself and on September 27 I was finally taken in for the endoscopy, which found I had cancer."

Karen Straughair, chief executive of Gateshead Health NHS Trust, said: "We are sorry for any inconvenience or anxiety Mr Oliver may have experienced in recent weeks.

"He can be assured the most appropriate treatment is being speedily arranged.