A HEALTH board has launched an inquiry after a complaint that a

trainee GP told a cancer victim that his illness was all in his mind.

It was later discovered that bricklayer Peter Taylor had a tumour so

big it had almost engulfed his right lung.

Mr Taylor, 54, of Newpark Road, Stirling, was finally confirmed as

having cancer by doctors at Stirling Royal Infirmary last July, after he

staggered in agony into the casualty department. He died three weeks

later.

A post mortem examination confirmed the huge tumour and a string of

secondary tumours that riddled his body.

His widow, Mrs Helen Taylor, 51, said yesterday that her husband made

repeated visits to a health centre in Stirling between falling ill last

May and his death in August.

He was prescribed antibiotics, sent for an endoscopy internal

examination at Stirling Royal Infimary which proved negative, and

finally handed over to a trainee GP at the health centre.

Mrs Taylor said the trainee doctor, who has since moved on, prescribed

paracetamol and Prozac, telling him his problems were stress related.

She finally went with her husband to see the trainee GP last July.

''I said to the doctor 'do you think that Peter could please have an

X-ray?'

''The doctor turned and he looked at me and he looked at Peter and he

said: 'Well, we don't want to go down that road, X-rays, tubes, needles,

tests etc, because I really am convinced this is all in your mind . . .

I am sending a letter off this afternoon for an appointment for you to

see a psychologist'.''

Three days later, Mr Taylor was in so much pain he could not walk to a

corner shop near his home. He went to the casualty department where

doctors drew two and a half pints of fluid off his affected lung. Two

days later cancer was confirmed.

A spokeswoman for Forth Valley Health Board yesterday refused to name

the trainee GP, but said Mrs Taylor's complaint was being investigated.

Written statements collected by the board's primary care manager, Mr

Duncan Harris, will be referred to a Medical Service Committee. If the

committee chairman, Mr Colin Stroyan, considers there is a prima facie

breach of a doctor's terms of service, there will be a hearing with both

parties present.

The spokeswoman said the procedure could take ''several months'',

after which there was a right of appeal to the Secretary of State.