Hospital bug death sparks investigation

AN investigation has been launched after the family of a pensioner, who died after contracting an infection in hospital, alleged her bed was dirty.

Mary Alice Foy (94), who lived at Royley House, Lee View, Royton, was taken into the Royal Oldham Hospital with stomach pains and diarrhoea in March, last year.

Yesterday, an inquest held in Rochdale found she was clear of the serious bacterial infection Clostridium Difficile when she was taken into hospital, but later contracted it from antibiotics.

She died on April 8, after her condition deteriorated.

Mrs Foy’s niece Lesley Halliwell said her aunt wasn’t eating and became weak and thin.

She added: “My aunt suffered a fall at the home two weeks before she was admitted to hospital and suffered a water infection for which she was prescribed antibiotics.

“But when we took her in, she had soiled her clothes and the bed she was taken into was dirty. When we went in the next day, her dirty clothes were still there and the room was smelling bad.”

A representative from the Pennine Acute Trust said the matter would be investigated.

Dr Joseph Vassalla, consultant physician at the Royal Oldham Hospital, also apologised for the mistake.

The consultant, who gave a cause of death as septic shock brought about by gastroenteritis and C.Diff, said the Department of Health was putting pressure on hospitals to get the levels of C.Diff and MRSA down and added that standards had improved.

Coroner Simon Nelson recorded a verdict of natural causes to which a recognised complication of necessary therapeutic intervention was a contributory factor.