The widow of a war veteran claims her husband fell victim to NHS age discrimination after delays in treating him for a rugby ball-sized cyst.

Jim Hardiman, from Stanton Harcourt, was told he would have to wait more than seven weeks for an operation which was booked for the day he and his wife Margaret were due to fly to Australia to see his daughter for the first time in four years.

The 82-year-old was sent home from Oxford's John Radcliffe Hospital and the cyst burst. Although he was readmitted, Mr Hardiman died a month later.

The hospital has apologised for the delay and said the hold-up was caused because the pensioner was not well enough for surgery, and because more urgent cases came in.

Former nursery nurse Mrs Hardiman has written to the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust, complaining that her husband's treatment was "inadequate".

She said: "In my opinion there was ageism from the start. My husband was over 80 and they thought they could leave him. I think if he was 50 they would have treated him immediately.

"I don't say they could have saved him, but we had no help or answers from them."

Mr Hardiman, who saw action in the Royal Navy during the Second World War, suffered a series of delays after his GP discovered a "large mass" on June 30 last year.

Although he was referred to the hospital and should have been seen in two weeks, a letter with the appointment date arrived a day after the clinic, so he waited 21 days for a consultation.

He then waited another 17 days for an "urgent scan", which pinpointed a cyst near his pancreas.

Mr Hardiman was finally admitted to the JR after his GP sent him as an emergency patient a week later.

Four days later, a consultant diagnosed the cyst as a pseudocyst, made up of water which needed to be drained.

The surgery was booked for seven weeks away, on September 19, and he was sent home.

Mrs Hardiman said her husband was "fading fast".

She added: "I said I would pay for the operation, and remortgage the house if I had to, but Jim said 'no'. By that time I think he'd given up. I was frightened to bring him home in case the cyst burst.

"Jim was very poorly. He didn't want to eat and he stayed in bed all the time - something he never did."

Two weeks later, Dr Ian Binnian, of Eynsham Medical Centre, got him readmitted. The referral note said "he will not survive until September 19".

When surgeons operated, they found the cyst had burst. Days later Mr Hardiman's arm became infected after he was accidentally cut by a nurse's belt buckle.

A spokesman for the ORH trust said: "We apologise that Mr Hardiman was not operated on as quickly as would have been ideal.

"We have no reason to believe delays in Mr Hardiman's treatment after diagnosis had an effect on the ultimate outcome of his illness, which was sadly terminal. Delays in Mr Hardiman's operation occurred due to a combination of the fact that he was not always fit for surgery and that more urgent therapeutic cases took priority.

"We don't feel staff discriminated against Mr Hardiman because of his age. We have a diversity policy and training in place."