Pay-out over mother’s deficient hospital care
Reporter: Marina Berry
Date published: 23 July 2010
‘What happened on the ward was disgraceful’
FOUR devastated brothers have accepted an out-of-court settlement after their mother died at the Royal Oldham Hospital.
Pennine Acute Trust, which runs the hospital, agreed to pay £5,000 to Zofia Henry’s sons after chief executive John Saxby admitted her care was “deficient” and fell far short of what the family had a right to expect.
Peter (57), John (55), Edward (52) and Christopher Henry (45) were so disgusted by the poor standard of care given to their mother on ward G2 that they felt they had no alternative but to sue.
Speaking on behalf of the family, Peter said: “Our mother’s stay in hospital was a complete disaster, from her admission through accident and emergency to when she died.
“What was allowed to happen on ward G2 was disgraceful.”
His brother, Edward, who lived with Mrs Henry in Top of the Green, Chadderton, added: “It was a shambles. I never expected in a million years it would turn out this way.”
Mrs Henry, who also has a daughter and seven grandchildren, died in February, 2008 at the age of 79.
She was admitted with a suspected viral infection, and died from pneumonia five-and-a-half weeks later.
The family say steroids she had taken for 25 years to help control asthma were not given to her for the first 24 days, despite daily concerns raised with staff by her sons, her diabetes was not properly supervised and there were delays in diagnosing a back fracture.
She was left cold on several occasions next to an open window, and repeated requests for her to be moved when other patients said they wanted the window left open were ignored.
Mr Saxby admitted in a letter to the family that the care given to Mrs Henry was “deficient in many aspects,” and said a sister had been removed from the ward for intensive re-education and retraining.
He “apologised profusely” in the letter, but said the ultimate outcome was not likely to have been affected.
He did, however, promise a careful watch would be kept to ensure staff on the ward did not “inadvertently slip back into poor practice.”
The brothers were so disgusted with her care, they contacted Oldham coroner Simon Nelson after their mother’s death, who wrote back saying the acknowledged omission by the trust to prescribe steroids for 24 days was of “the greatest concern.”
And he also confirmed that to suddenly withdraw steroid medication could have severe consequences.
The family said it was no surprise to them that Mrs Henry developed a bad chest infection and died.
An angry Peter added: “This was never about the money. It’s the principal and the fact we wanted an inquiry to get to the bottom of what happened.
“I personally blame the hospital for our mother’s death. I think there was a very good chance that if she had been given steroids and the proper care, she would have come out of hospital.
“In effect the horse has bolted now our mother has died. There were so many instances where staff did not communicate, nor take the family’s concerns on board.
“I am not saying this level of care is offered throughout the hospital, our mother had been in before and she got some very good treatment from another ward.
“But we were really appalled with the care she got on ward G2, and hopefully by talking about what happened we will get them to pull their socks up and prevent the same thing happening to anyone else.”
A spokesperson for The Pennine Acute Trust said: “We have carried out a thorough investigation, and subsequently written and met the family of Mrs Henry to discuss and answer their concerns.
“The coroner reached a verdict of death by natural causes, however we have looked carefully into the care provided following the issues raised by the family.
“We have looked into all the issues raised and responded accordingly. The family has been through our formal complaints process and have also taken legal action which has now been settled.
“Again, we would like to offer our condolences and deepest sympathy to Mrs Henry’s family for their loss.”
