Patient Died After Failures At Kettering General Hospital

The BBC has reported further to an Inquest into the death of a woman at Kettering General Hospital.

The Coroner ruled that the woman was failed by the medical team in charge of her care.

The woman had suffered a suspected splenic rupture and needed life-saving surgery to stop the internal bleeding.

At Inquest, the Coroner was told that the woman should have undergone a splenectomy within an hour of her arrival at Kettering General Hospital in October 2021, an operation that the hospital could provide, yet she was placed in ICU before being transferred to a Leicester hospital.

Despite receiving the splenectomy within 10 minutes of arriving at Leicester Royal Infirmary, she was transitioned to palliative care two days later and very sadly passed away.

Inquest

During the Inquest, the Coroner said she did not understand why the surgery did not take place, as it was an operation the hospital could provide.

The Coroner said:

All witnesses at the Inquest agreed that the patient required emergency surgery on arrival at Kettering General Hospital but were concerned that there was no challenge to the decisions made by the on-call surgeon not to operate.

The Coroner also had significant worries about the investigation by the hospital into this case and said she was “gravely concerned” about the “seeming inadequacies” in the investigation. She commented that the lack of investigation could prevent learning from this case and could jeopardise patient safety across the whole of the Hospital Trust.

Comment

This case highlights worrying issues within Kettering General Hospital in relation to decision-making processes in emergency, life-threatening situations. It is clear that this woman’s life could have been saved had there been greater scrutiny around the decision made by the on-call surgeon.

It is clear to see how delays in care can have catastrophic consequences for patients and it is very important that the Trust now take on board the Coroner’s findings and consider their policies and procedures carefully.

In addition, the Coroner’s finding that the hospital’s investigation following the death of this patient was inadequate is hugely concerning. It is imperative that lessons are learned following issues like this in order to prevent similar issues in the future, but this can never happen if hospitals are not properly and thoroughly investigating such events.