A missed Sepsis; a missed life at St. Peter's Hospital, Chertsey

Sunday, 22 February 2015

A missed Sepsis; a lost life at St. Peter's Hospital, Chertsey.



It is so very depressing; I started this Blog two years ago because when I was taken by ambulance to the Accident and Emergency department at St. Peter’s Hospital, Chertsey I was unlucky; the consultant on duty was incompetent and I was sent home with a displaced, fractured ankle for a week.

I wanted to prevent more serious things happening to other people – there was clearly something desperately wrong with the A and E. if they couldn't spot an obviously broken ankle - what else were they missing?

My experience of the complaints procedure told me that nothing was going to be done.

But I’ve got cancer – there are other things I need to be doing and at times I’ve was diverted from this or I was just too ill to campaign enough.

I should have done more.

This story from yesterday’s “Your Local Guardian” deals with an unnecessary death in 2012 which occurred just 8 months before I was messed about.

Why has it taken so long? part of the problem is that we never actually hear what is going wrong until it's far too late.

Was it the same person who messed me up?

It’s time for that public enquiry I’ve been demanding;

From Your Local Guardian

 

Fight for life damaged by Ashford and St Peter's failure to spot sepsis

 

St Peters: Did not give antibiotics until four hours after admittance to

Hospital.

 

First published Friday 20 February 2015 

 by Ellie Cambridge, Reporter - Elm bridge

 

An investigation into a man’s death found the care he was given at Ashford and St Peter’s Hospital reduced his chances of survival from sepsis.

 

The 77-year-old was admitted in January 2012 with severe health problems and the severity of his condition was not spotted from more than two hours, until he was seen by a doctor, who suspected he might have sepsis.

 

 

Antibiotics were not started until four hours after he was admitted, the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) found.

 

The investigation by PHSO said the care the man received during the first stage of admission did not meet the expected standard and reduced his chances of recovery.

 

Julie Mellor, PHSO, said: "Sepsis is a treatable condition, but too many people are dying unnecessarily from it because NHS services are failing to spot the warning signs."

 

The trust paid his daughter £1,200 in compensation for the distress and to acknowledge and apologise for the failings.

 

His daughter said: "My father went into hospital with sepsis and never returned home again. Nothing in this world can replace him and all the family are devastated by such a loss."

 

Suzanne Rankin, chief executive at Ashford & St Peter’s Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said: "Firstly I would like to offer my personal condolences to this individual family on their loss and I absolutely recognise the devastating impact the passing of a loved one has, particularly in these circumstances.

 

"Sepsis is a condition that requires urgent treatment and it’s clear that, whilst much of the care given in this case was good, we failed to recognise those early, critical symptoms.

 

"As indicated by the ombudsman, like many other hospitals we acknowledge that we haven’t been managing sepsis as well as we could and we are fully committed to improving the way we diagnose and treat this critical condition."

Some of the most recent unnecessary deaths are recorded in the “Pages” section on the right hand side of my Blog.

Neil Harris

(a don’t stop till you drop production)


 

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