Bath widow demands improvements in medical care after death of husband

Alan Nippard was admitted to the RUH with a bad knee and died from gangrene six weeks later

A spokesperson for the RUH has apologised for Mr Nippard's care
Author: John Wimperis for Local Democracy Reporting Service / James DiamondPublished 29th Jan 2025
Last updated 29th Jan 2025

A Bath widow has shared the heart breaking story of how she lost her husband due to a “gross failure to provide basic nursing care” at Bath’s Royal United Hospital, as she calls for no-one else to ever have to face such an ordeal.

Gaynor and Alan Nippard should have been celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary this year. Instead, Gaynor spoke to the Local Democracy Reporting Service about the “horror” of losing Alan three years ago and urged the hospital to improve its practices and for people to check up on loved ones staying there.

Alan Nippard fell and injured his knee, as a result of septic arthritis, in 2022 and was taken to the RUH. He should have been discharged when his knee improved but inadequate nursing care saw him develop a pressure sore which turned into a serious form of gangrene. Eventually he was told the RUH could only offer him palliative care.

Gaynor said: “All my husband’s done is fall awkwardly out of bed and knock his knee. That’s all that happened. And you don’t go into hospital for such a minor thing and expect to die.”

The couple had been married for 57 years. When they got married in 1965, Gaynor was 20 and Alan was 18. At that age, they still needed their parents’ permission and Alan had to take his parents to court to get permission to marry Gaynor. It made the headlines in the Bath Chronicle at the time. Gaynor said: “It was a love story.”

She said: “Because we were so young, tongues started to wag, as they do even today. But, no, I wasn’t pregnant. We just wanted to get married! He was the only boyfriend I ever had and I was his only girlfriend. And he was taken away in such terrible circumstances.”

Alan was admitted to the RUH on May 30 2022 and moved into orthopaedic ward, Pierce Ward in the small hours of on June 1. Doctors felt they were “winning” in tackling his knee but Alan faced a more serious infection as a result of his stay in the hospital.

Nurses from the RUH took part in strike action against poor pay and working conditions in December 2022. (There is no suggestion those pictured were involved in Mr Nippard's case)

By June 2, he had developed a pressure sore on his sacrum, at the bottom of his spine, which he had not had when he entered hospital. At home, Gaynor had a set of steps he could climb and make sure he could shower. But in the hospital, she said: “They made him bedridden.”

Alan spent an estimated 22 ½ hours a day on his back while in hospital, with no sustained time with pressure of his sacrum, according to a report by corner Maria Voisin after Alan’s death. Ms Voisin said that simple care such as making sure Mr Nippard had an air mattress and was regularly repositioned did not happen. The trust’s lead Tissue Viability Nurse told the inquest the bed care Alan received was “shocking.”

The pressure sore developed into a form of gangrene known as Fournier’s Gangrene, a very serious, acute necrotic infection of the genitals and buttocks. Gaynor could tell something was wrong from the smell when in the room with Alan. She said: “When I pulled back the covers one day to see that everything below the waist had gone black I knew that something wasn’t right.”

The only treatment for Fournier’s Gangrene is a surgery which the critical care team decided that Alan would not have been strong enough for due to other medical conditions affecting his heart and lungs, the coroner’s report said. The team decided surgery would cause Alan “immense suffering in his last days” and so he was instead offered palliative care.

One night, Gaynor received a call from her husband in hospital to say he had been told there was no more they could do for him. Gaynor said: “Why would you tell a man in his bed on his own in his room that he was going to die all on his own?”

Alan Nippard died on June 6 2022. Gaynor said: “Six weeks in that hospital, bearing in mind I was told that they’d straightened up his knee and in four days he would be home. So what happened?

“It’s like a horror movie to me.”

The cause of death was recorded as Fournier’s Gangrene, the pressure sore on his sacrum, and sepsis; along with the septic arthritis and preexisting diabetes and medical conditions affecting his kidneys and heart. In her report, Ms Voisin said: “Mr Nippard’s death was caused by a pressure sore. The pressure sore was preventable with the provision of basic nursing care. This was not provided.

“There was a gross failure to provide basic nursing care. Once he had the pressure sore his death could have been prevented with the provision of basic nursing care, such as skin care, regular re-positioning and personal care. This was not achieved at all.

“He was not managed in line with recognised nursing practice and as a consequence his death was contributed to by neglect.”

She added that, at the time of the inquest in July 2023, there had been two other cases that month of pressure sores in the Pierce Ward. Gaynor has urged the hospital to listen to the coroner and improve screening and training of nursing staff so others won’t have to go through the same ordeal.

The RUH has insisted it has listened and made improvements. A spokesperson for the RUH said: “We offer our sincere apologies to Mr Nippard’s family and loved ones for the failings in his care.

“We have a dedicated Tissue Viability Nursing (TVN) Team and since 2023 we have made significant improvements in the prevention and management of pressure ulcers across the RUH. This includes education and training for nursing staff on the nationally recognised SSKIN Care Bundle — a tool to help monitor skin concerns and proactively reduce the risks of developing a pressure ulcer.

“We have learnt from this distressing case and are committed to ongoing training, stringent monitoring and thorough care planning to ensure the safety of the people we care for.”

Gaynor said: “I’ve told my family: if anything were to happen to me, please don’t put me in the RUH. And yet it’s our local hospital and I shouldn’t have to say that.”

She said: “I want people to know, just to look out for the tiniest thing that could be going on.” She said: “Please please, check everything that’s going on with your loved one in any bed in that hospital.”

Law firm RWK Goodman represented the family at the inquest and in a medical negligence claim settled for an undisclosed sum. Becky Randel, an associate in RWK Goodman’s clinical negligence team, said: “Whilst the family instructed us to represent them at the inquest and in a subsequent claim, their objective has always been that the poor care Alan received was made widely known and that the trust made improvements to ensure that such awful care did not happen to others.

“At the inquest, hospital staff accepted that despite the failings in Alan’s care taking place a year prior, there had been further pressure sores incidents on the same ward. It is hoped that the training put in place by the trust after the inquest has led to improvements on the ward, however, such basic nursing care should not have been absent either at the time of Alan’s death or a year later at his inquest.”

Since Alan’s death, Gaynor said that her son, daughter, and two “wonderful” grandsons visited her every day. She said: “I don’t think us, as human beings, ever really recover, we just have to try and move on. I can’t forget him. I go up to the cemetery every week. I get told off for going up so often but I can’t help it.”

She added: “I kiss his photo every night and I wear his wedding ring around my neck on a chain.”

First for all the latest news from across the UK every hour on Hits Radio on DAB, at hitsradio.co.uk and on the Rayo app.

Rayo PremiumRayo Premium

The Hits Radio Evening Show with Sam Thompson

Hits Radio