A BUNCH of siblings have been left "devastated" and "stressed" after the inquest into the death of their mum was delayed.

Julie Wolfe, also known as Julie Fry, died suddenly on August 17 2020 after suffering a pulmonary embolism. She was 61 years old.

But her family are still unable to register her death and arrange a headstone as the inquest, initially scheduled for July 26, has been rescheduled for March 28 2022.

The reason given by the Hampshire Coroner's Service was that a health professional who treated the deceased in hospital was unavailable on July 26.

Julie's eldest daughter Kirsty Keating, 38, told the Chronicle: "She was working as an NHS receptionist when she was diagnosed with stage four bowel cancer in December 2019.

"Delays, appointments for the wrong investigations, and bad communication led her to complain to the Queen Alexander Hospital in Portsmouth in early 2020. Following surgery in January 2020 and one dose of chemo, which made her very ill, she was given the all clear in April 2020 and told to return for a routine check up in January 2021.

"In May 2020 she was told that the cancer was back, was very aggressive and had already spread to other parts of her body. She was given a few months, maybe a year, to live and decided to transfer to Southampton General for palliative chemo. On August 17 2020 mum died suddenly after suffering a pulmonary embolism."

After the post mortem, the coroner opened a case and decided an inquest was required. The coroner advised the family to make an official complaint to the QA, which they did.

The family waited 7 months for the majority of the response to the complaint, and a further three for the rest.

Ms Keating added: "While we welcomed the inquest, we were really upset to have to wait another eight months to be able to register mum’s death and arrange her headstone. This further delay with the inquest and the knock-on effects has left us devastated, stressed and disgusted."

When asked for a comment on the situation, a spokesperson for the Coroners' Office said: "“Inquests have to be scheduled to take into account the availability of key witnesses. This can sometimes lead to dates being changed and Interested Persons are kept informed of any changes as appropriate.”

The office had also emailed the family: "The attendance of witnesses in this case has been challenging, but that we were informed at the outset that Dr Callaghan was unavailable. Once the Coroner confirmed she would be required, we then asked if she was going abroad, and then again more recently as it was unlikely given ongoing Covid. So this has been an ongoing process, but both ourselves and the Trust are keen to ensure that the Inquest is a thorough one."

Julie Wolfe was born and grew up in Awbridge, near Romsey. She attended Awbridge Primary School and Romsey School.

She spent a lot of time socialising as a teenager in and around Romsey. As an adult she was often taking her mum into the town and you could rarely walk from one place to another without having to stop to ‘have a natter’ to someone they knew.

The family is well known in and around the town.

Julie had various admin and data input jobs, but her favourite job of all was childcare. She became the supervisor at Timsbury Pre-School when her youngest children started primary school in the mid-90s.

She also spent several years working at M&s in West Quay before going back to admin jobs.