Hospital apology over new mum’s death

Royal Oldham Hospital chiefs have apologised to the family of a woman who died days after giving birth in the hospital’s maternity unit. An investigation discovered failings in the care given to her.

The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman investigated concerns raised by the family of the woman, identified only as Mrs D, following her death in 2012. Their summary, released yesterday, says the woman, who had suffered two episodes of bleeding during her pregnancy, was housed on a general ward rather than the coronary care unit, until her condition worsened. She was found to have a rare, serious condition resulting in abnormal blood vessel development in her lungs.

Doctors suggested Mrs D should be referred to a specialist unit elsewhere, but took six days to contact the specialist unit in Sheffield, where she was eventually transferred. Seven days after arriving at Royal Hallamshire Hospital she suffered a cardiac arrest and died.

The ombudsman partly upheld the family’s complaint, arguing that nursing staff did not recognise Mrs D needed more frequent observations or identify that she needed a medical review, though the report added this wouldn’t have altered the final outcome.

“Nevertheless,” said the report, “as the Trust failed to recognise these failings, we were not satisfied that it had taken appropriate action to ensure the same things would not happen again. The cardiology and respiratory teams should have got consultant support earlier. If this had happened, Mrs D might have been referred and transferred to the specialist unit more quickly.”

But the ombudsman added the patient’s condition was “severe and progressive”. and doctors didn’t believe more or earlier consultation would have affected the final outcome.

Gill Harris, chief nurse at the trust, said that they accepted the report: “Since the trust received this complaint in July 2012 we have put in place a number of measures to improve our services. We would like to reiterate our unreserved apology to the family for the distress caused.”