A TERMINALLY ill pensioner was forced to spend his final hours in Watford General Hospital lying in a noisy “building site,” his distraught family has claimed.

John Mayston, who was also known as Jack, died in a bed on the fourth floor of the Heronsgate Ward, in the early hours of last Wednesday morning.

His devastated family has since said he died without “peace or dignity”, while surrounded by drilling noises and loud banging, as builders continued to renovate the ward around him.

The 84-year-old was admitted to hospital on Sunday, May 17, when he became seriously unwell.

He had suffered from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and died three days later.

Mr Mayston's step-daughter, Karen Pett, said: “My mother went in first at about 10am and there were builders there traipsing through the ward.

“They were drilling, banging, plastering the walls and then in the middle of it all the nurses told my mum the next 24-hours would be critical and her husband was likely to die.

“She had nowhere to sit, nowhere to go and was just crying in the middle of this building site with builders walking past her.”

The hospital was unable to offer Mr Mayston a private side room so he was put in a bed in a bustling ward with other patients.

Ms Pett, who lives in Hunton Bridge, says stream of builders meant it was impossible for her family to say goodbye properly or privately.

She said: “I have not experienced anything like it in my life. It was like a building site. It was like a third world country.

“I thought they were actually going to drill through the wall next to him. There wasn't any peace or dignity in the end for him.

“He wasn't a man to make a fuss and I think looking back he had put up with it the week before and just hadn't said anything.

“He worked until he was 70 and I think there should have been a little more dignity for him at the end.”

Mr Mayston was eventually put in a private room, where he died at around 4am on Wednesday.

Ms Pett added: “Death is never nice is it? But my mum has got these memories now and she will never have good memories of him dying.”

A spokesman for the hospital has since apologised to Mr Mayston's family.

In a statement, West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “We apologise to the family for any distress caused and would be pleased to discuss their concerns with them directly.

“The trust is currently undertaking a large scale improvement programme to provide dedicated male and female washing and toilet facilities on our wards with an aim to eliminating mixed sex accommodation for our patients. “ The work is due to be completed by the end of June.

The statement added: “We would like to assure patients that we are making every effort to minimise the disruption.“