A woman has dropped her plan to sue a hospital after her husband died waiting for a triple heart transplant.

Patricia Rance said today of her late husband Ted, 72: "money won't bring him back".

Mr Rance, 72, of Washington, near Worthing, was referred to the cardiac centre at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton after suffering chest pains.

He was told he needed an angiogram - an X-ray image of the blood vessels - but would have to wait up to six months.

In November Mr Rance's family paid to have the angiogram taken privately and it showed that his condition was serious.

But Patricia Rance, 65, says she has now reconsidered her decision to sue health bosses.

She said: "The doctor at the private hospital said he urgently needed a triple, possibly even a quadruple bypass, and that he should have it done before Christmas.

"But when we told the doctors at The Royal Sussex County Hospital they said that it just wasn't possible."

Two days after Christmas Mr Rance died.

His widow said: "If he had been able to have this operation he would have been able to live a totally normal life again."

"We do feel very angry with the health authority and the hospital for letting this happen to him.

"We did think about legal action but what is the point? It would be very upsetting for all the family and I don't want compensation money, I just want my husband back. That's the one thing I can't have."

Ian Keeber of Brighton Health Care NHS Trust said the waiting list for surgery for an urgent patient was currently up to 12 weeks.

He said the trust sympathised with Mr Rance's family but could not have done anything to avoid his death.

He said: "Mr Trance was seen as quickly as possible and was dealt with appropriately as an urgent patient.

"He was on a very short waiting list and would have been seen in a few weeks. Sadly, this does not make it any easier for the family."