The family of a man who died needlessly after his surgery was delayed by 12 hours has called for changes at the troubled NHS trust, as regulators raise concerns about patient safety and waiting times.
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has upgraded the surgical department at Brighton’s Royal Sussex County Hospital from ‘inadequate’ to ‘requires improvement’, despite the department being investigated by police over dozens of patient deaths and alleged negligence. It is the center of And cover up.
In Wednesday’s report, regulators raised concerns about already long wait times, repeated flight cancellations and staffing shortages that could compromise safety.
The test report revealed that the trust of Ralph Sims, who died at the age of 65, has apologized and reached a settlement with his family after doctors failed to properly treat his blood pressure after heart surgery in April 2019. The Guardian reports was submitted in a clear form.
His family said the apology was hollow after the trust took months to admit liability.
Sims, an avid runner, suffered a drop in blood pressure and developed an arrhythmia eight hours after surgery to replace his aortic valve in hospital.
An internal review into Sims’ treatment found hospital staff did not “recognize the importance of lowering blood pressure”.
University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the hospital, admitted the father-of-three should have returned to surgery to determine the cause of the deterioration. Instead, doctors decided he needed to be observed overnight.
Due to another emergency, Sim’s angiogram was not performed until just before noon the next day, 12 hours after the pressure drop. This delay caused irreversible and avoidable myocardial damage that led to his death five weeks later.
The family said in a statement: “The best thing the trust can do now is to ensure guidelines and protocols are followed. Staff failed to contact the surgeon who had completed the operation and failed to get Ralph to go for an angiogram in time. He also did not seek the advice of an on-call consultant in Worthing, 24 miles away, who was not even at the scene. Had these things been done as expected, the outcome could have been very different.”
He added: “The trust has apologized to our family, but it leaves us feeling empty. Ralph’s death was completely unnecessary and despite the problems with his care, the trust apologized. It took several years.”
Thomas Rees-Bristow, a medical negligence lawyer at Irwin Mitchell who represented the family, said: “The trust acknowledged that there was an alarming level of negligence.” In heart surgery, every minute counts, and the longer the reduced blood flow goes untreated, the more damage to the heart muscle increases over time. Tragically, in Ralph’s case, his death could have been completely avoided if he had received proper treatment. ”
It is unclear whether Mr Sim’s death is one of more than 40 hospital deaths being investigated by Sussex Police as part of Operation Bramber.
CQC Southern Operations Deputy Director Neil Cox warned the trust that enforcement action would be taken if it did not improve immediately.
He said: “While there has been improvement in some areas, other issues remain. Leaders must address these issues at a more urgent pace.”
“We found that there were significant gaps in the relationship between staff and senior leaders and how they worked together. It was clearly having a ripple effect.
“Despite the trust taking steps to support staff to have a voice, there were still reports of bullying and low staff morale as a result of not feeling heard.”
Last week bosses at the trust were criticized by the Royal College of Surgeons for encouraging “bullying” and a “culture of fear” among staff.
George Findlay, chief executive of University Hospitals Sussex Trust, said the CQC had found signs of “fundamental strength”.
“But CQC is also making improvements, from more consistent record-keeping to training, managing pressure on overburdened staff, improving our culture and, in some hospitals, uplifting colleagues. I also discovered that there are too many things to do.” I can speak with confidence. We accept those challenges and work hard to solve them. ”
The trust has not yet commented on Sims’ settlement.
