Report claims patient deaths in Lancashire hospital "due to poor care"
The claims were made in the papers for a March meeting of a trust board
A report has claimed that two recent patient deaths took place "due to poor care" at a Lancashire hospital.
The claims have been published as part of notes taken from a recent board meeting at the East Lancashire Hospital NHS Trust.
It's claimed that two patients died whilst queuing to be seen at the Accident and Emergency department at the Royal Blackburn Hospital. One was in a corridor and a second followed a collapse in a bathroom.
The trust Corporate Risk Register said both were linked to "poor care".
It says: “We continue to see increased overcrowding in Emergency Department with 30 patients on average on ED corridor, 14 patients in resus and 24 patients on the main hospital corridor.
“The service has had two deaths in ED, one bathroom collapse and one on the corridor linked to poor care.”
ELHT’s chief executive Martin Hodgson said: “I cannot publicly discuss individual patients care, but in general terms it is undoubtedly the case that our colleagues sometimes have to work under significant pressure, in difficult circumstances, but they will always do their very best to give care, compassion and dignity to their patients – and I want to thank them for their ongoing hard work and resilience.
“Where we see clinical incidents occur, we have robust systems and process in place to investigate, so we can learn and will always offer our sincere apologies to patients and families affected.
“The A&E at Royal Blackburn is one of the busiest emergency departments in England and we are regularly breaking records for the number of people who come in for treatment each week and this includes a lot of very poorly people who need to be admitted for further care.
“”Unfortunately, when all the cubicles are full of patients, we don’t have any choice but to use corridor space.
“It is not something any of us want to do."
Lord McLean, chair of East Lancashire’s Patient Voices Group said: “I asked Martin Hodgson about the long waits, that too many patients are experiencing in the emergency department and he acknowledged and sincerely apologised.
“He assured me that no patient is left unattended. I hear about this from patients every day and some of the stories I hear break my heart.
“I have been in the emergency department and seen for myself the stoicism of the staff there, running around doing the job of six staff. Waiting on a hospital corridor, for NHS treatment in 2024 is not right in any civilised society.
“I am devastated, but not surprised, to hear of the deaths and my thoughts go out to the relatives and friends of these and all the patients who need to attend the emergency department.”