Jade "was let down by NHS", says doctor

Jade Goody's doctor has claimed that the star was let down by "incompetent and negligent" NHS staff who could have saved her life.

On the eve of the first anniversary of the Big Brother star's death from cervical cancer, Dr Ann Coxon slammed medics who missed Jade's tumour when it was "the size of a small tangerine".

"The NHS staff completely let her down," Dr Coxon said. "She had symptoms for a long time. She was not given an appropriate investigation and she was a sitting duck for cervical cancer."

"But Jade didn't know that," she added. "She'd had abnormal smear tests since she was 16 so by the time she was 27 it didn't worry her much, because she didn't really know what it meant. It had never been properly explained to her.

Dr Coxon added that Jade - who died on Mother's Day 2009 after a much-publicised battle against the disease - skipped several smear tests as she was worried doctors would tell her she could not have any more childen.

The 27-year-old had suffered heavy bleeding after the birth of her second son Bobby and had been told it may affect her ability to conceive again.

"She really wanted a little girl and she did not know that cervical smears were about cancer," the medic said. "She said to me 'I am not stupid - if I'd have known I would have gone'."

"Jade's death was completely unnecessary and preventable. She died of neglect and incompetence."