4th May 2022 – Our Client, Mrs S, from Canterbury, Kent came to us following the sad loss of her father, Mr C, in August 2019. Mr C had reduced mobility following a discectomy in 2017 and he was therefore largely wheelchair bound. As a result of this had a heightened risk of pressure ulcers which was suitably managed by his community healthcare team whilst he was living at home.On 17th June 2019 Mr C suffered a fall at home. He used his Lifeline and a 999 call was made requesting that an ambulance attend. The need was classified as Category 3 by the Ambulance Trust with a target response time of 2 hours. The ambulance actually arrived within 2 hours 50 minutes of the call. All the while Mr C was on the floor unable to get up. During this time he developed a Grade 2 sacral pressure sore.
He was reviewed by the paramedics and transported to William Harvey Hospital, Ashford, where he was admitted. Whilst in Hospital Mr C spent a long time in A&E without a suitable bed before being passed between 4 different wards. During this time, the Grade 2 sacral pressure ulcer deteriorated to a Grade 4 necrotic ulcer. Further his general health dramatically declined and he was put onto the Palliative Pathway. He did rally sufficiently to be discharged from hospital to a care home on 16th July 2019. Sadly, however, by then his passing was inevitable and he subsequently died on 23rd August 2019.
Following our instruction medical records were sought and collated, expert nursing evidence was obtained and a full Letter of Claim was drafted and sent to the Defendant East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust, the Trust responsible for the William Harvey Hospital.
Although the ambulance crew were 50 minutes outside of the target time for response this delay of 50 minutes was deemed to be insignificant as against the failings that occurred whilst Mr C was in William Harvey Hospital.
Our nursing expert advised that the Trust breached their duty of care to Mr C in various ways including the failure to undertake essential risk assessments, not ensuring regular repositioning, failing to keeping his heels consistently elevated, failure to use readily available pressure sore prevention equipment and not providing clear advice to Mr C regarding the sores he had sustained.
It was further alleged that but for the breaches of duty of care identified Mr C would not have sustained a Grade 4 sacral ulcer with severe necrosis which required debridement, nor sores to his heels, both of which caused him severe pain and suffering during the last few months of his life. Further it was alleged that the pressure ulcers subsisting at his death caused or at least materially contributed to Mr C’s premature death on 23.08.2019.
Following a period of investigation the Trust admitted that their failings resulted in Mr C’s Grade 2 pressure sore deteriorating to a Grade 4 necrotic ulcer and further accepted that this contributed to his death .The parties then engaged in settlement negotiations and the case was brought to a conclusion.
Francesca Beach, Assistant Solicitor at Fairweathers with conduct of the case, commented: “Pressure sores are perfectly preventable with the provision of basic care and it saddens me to see so many people coming to us with similar stories of poor care with often catastrophic injuries resulting. Whilst I am glad that East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust accepted that errors were made, and did so at an early stage, these mistakes should never had occurred and we can only hope that those treating him have genuinely learned from this so as to prevent the same thing happening to another family in the future’’.
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