THE husband of a blind welfare campaigner was rushed to hospital after allegedly being given the wrong drugs by a pharmacy.

Jill Allen-King’s husband Alvin, 74, who is partially sighted, believed he was having a second heart attack when he began experiencing severe chest pains last month.

Mrs Allen-King OBE, 76, from Westcliff, who lost her sight at the age of 24 immediately called for an ambulance which took her husband, who manages a music shop, to Southend Hospital.

While there it was discovered a prescription given to in September had been wrongly dispensed and instead of the heart pills Mr Allen-King usually takes, he had been taking thyroxine, a drug administered for an over or under-active thyroid gland.

Mrs Allen-King has revealed the blunder in order to warn others to check their prescriptions, particularly those with eye problems.

She said: “Alvin had a heart attack last year and was in hospital for a week while they fitted a stent in his heart. On November 9 he went to tune a piano and after five minutes he came back saying he had got pains in his chest again. I called an ambulance and he was taken to hospital where they did tests all day.

“They said he had an angina attack, but they didn’t know what caused it. Then the hospital phoned me and asked if he had been taking my tablets, but I’m not on any.”

Mrs Allen-King has since complained to the chemist.

She said: “Since this happened I’ve had friends tell me it has happened to them so I want to warn people to check their pills.

“Not only have we endured all the distress of this but there is the cost to the NHS of a hospital stay and tests.

“The chemist said they are still looking into the matter through their complaints procedure.”

Mrs Allen-King added: “There really is no excuse for this.

“I was with Alvin when he got his prescription and the shop wasn’t at all busy.

“There should be proper procedures in place.”