Lack of staff led to hospital death

An NHS Trust has paid ÂŁ9,000 in damages to the family of an 89-year-old woman who died after being given inadequate hospital care after an investigation by Unite Legal Services.

The woman from Weston-Super-Mare was admitted to Weston General Hospital on the 10 April 2014 for treatment following a series of severe urinary infections which had begun to affect her mental health and mobility.

The hospital placed her into an assessment ward but staff did not medically assess her needs. Two weeks later she was transferred to another ward – again without being assessed, in violation of a standard requirement for patient transfers.

Without a full medical evaluation of her condition, her mental health continued to decline and her complex needs were not taken into account by the nurses on the ward.

As a result, her pain relief medication was administered only when she showed signs of distress, rather than at regular times.

On April 19 2014, the woman was taken to the commode by a nurse who did not return.  Mrs Rennie tried to take herself back to bed but fell and fractured her femur while doing so.

The following day surgeons operated on her broken leg and she began to show signs of recovery. However, eight days later she developed a pulmonary embolism and died.

Following her death, her son sought advice from his union Unite. They were able to provide him with free representation via Unite Legal Services who instructed medical negligence experts Thompsons Solicitors to investigate the case.

“It was so awful to see our mother in so much pain in her final days,” the woman’s son said. “We tried to explain time and again that her mental abilities were declining but the staff didn’t seem to take any notice.

“When she had her fall we were promised a meeting – but that never happened. When she died they again promised to meet us, but we are still yet to hear from them about this.

Shine a light

“We’re grateful to Unite Legal Services and Thompsons for helping us to shine a light on what happened and identifying where mistakes were made by the Trust.  We hope they will learn serious lessons.”

Unite regional officer Malcolm Green said of Weston Area Health NHS Trust, “The Coroner found that the standard of care given fell below the expected standard. The Hospital admitted that there were eight patients on the ward at the time, two of which had been assessed as needing ‘one to one’ nursing care, yet only three nurses were present on the ward.

Serious staffing issue

“Clearly, the hospital has a serious staffing issue that contributed to our member’s mother’s death,” he added. “We want our members to know that Unite Legal Services are here for them during tragic events like this and can provide support when family members are injured, or as sadly happened here, pass away.”

Amy Griffiths of Thompsons Solicitors noted that the neglect suffered contributed to her death.

“It’s clear the cause of the neglect was a lack of staff,” she said. “Sadly, continued cuts to NHS funding will only further stretch hospital workers.

“The government must do more to help medical professionals do their job properly by providing them with more resources, otherwise we are likely to see more cases of inadequate medical care.”