The family of a business owner who died after a private hospital 'missed an opportunity' say they have been left angry by the way patients with other illnesses were treated second to the coronavirus pandemic.

The Hampshire Clinic, operated by BMI Healthcare in Old Basing, took nine hours to refer cancer patient James Hunter Thomson for a CT scan which crucially would have revealed he had contracted sepsis.

At an inquest into his death at Winchester Coroner's Court on Tuesday, a coroner said an earlier diagnosis may have given the devoted dad, who was fighting a rare form of cancer, more time with his family.

The 62-year-old, from Carnock Road Dunfermline, Fife, was being treated in Basingstoke for a rare type of appendix cancer, pseudomyxoma peritonei, as there are only two centres in the country which specialise in it, the other being The Christie in Manchester.

His wife Jan told the coroner the surgery he needed would have been offered to him within a four to six week period, but due to coronavirus pausing other treatments, it was nearly four months before he was admitted to the Hampshire Clinic.

Mrs Thomson said: “I find it atrocious that across the whole of the UK, people with different illnesses were treated second to coronavirus.

“It’s shocking. I’m not saying the outcome would have been different. But he definitely waited a lot longer [for surgery] than he would otherwise have done.”

Due to a pause on operations at Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospital during the first coronavirus lockdown in mid-March 2020 which saw 95 patients on a waiting list for the surgery, Mr Thomson was offered an earlier surgery date of July 14 as an NHS patient at The Hampshire Clinic.

After an initially successful operation to remove a cancerous growth, Mr Thomson took a turn for the worse on July 27.

His wife Jan said he was “in absolute agony” with abdominal pain, which the team believed to be caused by an infection, and were trying to work out the cause.

After she had been asked to leave following her afternoon visiting slot, Mr Thomson called Jan at 8pm to tell her that he was “very ill” and that he loved her.

He was moved to an intensive care unit within the clinic at around 9.30pm, and at 5am following a CT scan which showed he was suffering from peritonitis - an infection caused by an abdominal leak - a second operation was carried out.

The following day, He was transferred to Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospital Intensive Care Unit where the team fought to save his life, but sadly he had developed sepsis and multi-organ failure, and passed away on August 2.

Addressing Sanjeer Dayal, the lead consultant who cared for him at The Hampshire Clinic, Jan and the couple’s daughters, Jennifer and Lindsay, asked why a CT scan had not been done earlier.

Lindsay said: “There were numerous notes about his abdominal pain, so I can’t understand why somebody would be noting that he has an infection, but not using all the tools at their disposal.”

Mr Dayal responded by saying that the team were “following the clinical signs” which indicated to him that an abdominal infection was “unlikely”, while signs of respiratory difficulty led them to carrying out chest scans first, and scheduling a CT scan for the following morning.

“It was not that we were dismissing his abdomen,” he said. “That was kept in mind.”

It was carried out at 4am, nine hours after it was first suggested.

Jennifer added: “Dad was a stoic patient, so if he was saying this was an issue, you should have known. Basically, you were closing the door once the horse had bolted.”

The court heard how Mr Thomson first went to his GP with complaints of abdominal pain in September 2019. He initially thought it may have been a kidney stone, as he had suffered this previously, but was finally diagnosed with cancer in April 2020.

Jan said: “Jamie never complained. He was not one of those people that made a big drama out of things, unfortunately for us.”

The medical cause of death was listed as multiple organ failure, caused by peritonitis and pseudomyxoma peritonei.

Giving a narrative conclusion, area Coroner Rosamund Rhodes-Kemp said: “It is sad, because Mr Thomson had a type of cancer that was slow progressing, and it was hoped that he would have a little more time than he did.

“I really do think that there was a missed opportunity to get that CT scan done. We are looking at a gentleman who had had extensive abdominal surgery and complained predominantly of abdominal pain and, along with the other raft of measures, a CT scan should have been done much earlier in the day.

“But it is not clear, on the balance of probabilities, whether it would have made any difference.”

Mr Thomson's daughters said they have "so much anger" following his death, adding: "We believe he has been robbed of the chance to spend some last time with his family."

In a statement read in court, Jennifer and Lindsay described their dad as “someone who could always be counted on” and “the rock of our family”.

They added that he was a prominent business owner in Dunfermline and much-loved husband, father, and grandfather.

“We couldn’t go anywhere without people stopping to chat to our dad. He always had time for people, a true gentleman and the most dependable person we knew,” they said.