A former dairy farmer from Crewe, who has lost four years of his life after an untreated hernia on his abdomen grew to the size of a beach ball, says he doesn’t want anyone else to suffer as he has.

Winston Baldwin, 74, from Crewe, had to go into a care home and says his life has been almost unbearable for the last four years due to the pain and loss of independence.

He suffered a spinal fracture caused by the weight of the hernia and the stretched skin on his abdomen is ulcerated and extremely sore.

Solicitors specialising in medical negligence at law firm JMW are now investigating his care to find out if there were missed opportunities to operate on the hernia at an earlier stage and reduce Winston’s suffering. Winston also wants to prevent anyone else ending up with such a debilitating hernia.

Winston commented: “The hernia has had a very severe impact on my quality of life and health for the last four years: it’s very painful and I’ve lost all my independence. The NHS seems to be in a very bad way for this to have happened and I would say to anyone else who can afford to get private treatment early on to do so, so that they don’t end up in the same situation as I have. It is the psychological side of it too that’s debilitating. I end up feeling like a freak and it should not have got to this stage. I just don’t want anyone else to suffer as I have.”

Madeleine Langmead, Winston’s medical negligence solicitor at JMW, is currently investigating what went wrong and why for him to be left in such a poor condition and for any patient safety issues to be dealt with to protect other patients.

She commented: “This is a very distressing case and Winston has suffered severe health problems due to the size of the hernia. His ordeal has been going on for a long time and the delays he has faced are a particular concern to me. I am hoping to obtain answers for Winston and hold those responsible for treatment of the hernia fully accountable for their decisions. It is also vital for any lessons to be learned so that the risk of this happening to another patient is minimised.”

When Winston initially developed a much smaller hernia, after surgery to reverse a stoma in April 2019, at Leighton Hospital in Crewe, he was advised that the hernia would be operated on in approximately six months. However nothing was done before the Covid 19 pandemic hit England in early 2020.

Between February 2021 and August 2022, Winston saw numerous surgeons at different hospitals. This included the surgeon who carried out the initial stoma surgery at Leighton Hospital and a private surgeon he paid for himself out of desperation, who all told him that due to the size of the hernia, surgery to treat it was now too risky and could not be done.

However Winston has been given a ray of hope by surgeons at Arrowe Park Hospital in Birkenhead, who he saw in March 2023 after they contacted him when they were made aware of his plight by ITV Granada Reports. The surgeons believe they can remove the hernia and Winston is now trying to become a little stronger so that he can have the operation.

Winston said: “When they said ‘yes we can do that’ I nearly fell through the floor. I am walking on air. I’m chuffed to bits. I just want my life back and this has made me feel very positive that it could happen.”

On 30 March Winston will feature on an ITV Tonight programme about NHS delays to share his story and highlight the impact on him.

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