A HAMPSHIRE man with a potentially fatal brain tumour who could not have vital tests due to a lack of hospital beds has finally been found a place in a specialist ward.

As reported in the Daily Echo, Rodney Lewis has been left lying in a general ward at Winchester's Royal Hampshire County Hospi-tal not knowing whether his tumour is cancerous or not.

Tests to identify the nature of the growth could not be carried out on the 56-year-old because the Royal Hants does not have the facilities and Southampton General's neurological department was at full stretch.

But now doctors have vowed to his family that he will be in Southampton by the end of today at the latest. The news has come as a godsend to Rodney's wheelchair-bound wife Ann, who has been agonising over her husband-of-25-years' uncertain future.

Ann, 58, of Arthur Road, Eastleigh, who has spin-al problems, told the Echo: "I got a phone call telling me that he would be moved by Monday at the latest. Now they are getting the ball rolling.

"I feel so much better now they are moving him. When he has the tests it might be bad news but at least we will know and can be prepared for what's ahead."

The Lewises situation was brought to light by the Echo as the government announced the biggest shake-up of the NHS in 50 years, promising more beds and shorter waiting lists.

Today, Ann thanked the Echo and its readers for the support given to her and her family.

Grandmother-of-two Ann said: "We're really grateful to the Echo and for what you have done. People have been asking me what I would say to Tony Blair but I couldn't tell them."

A spokeswoman for Southampton General said the move was due to a bed finally becoming free.

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