By Avoidable failures led to fathers death at Grimsby Hospital
A family has finally managed to get compensation after a father died following unsatisfactory care at Grimsby’s Diana Princess of Wales Hospital.
The family from Binbrook lost a husband and a father following his admission into the hospital back in 2017.
David Cove passed away after the Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust failed to consider that Mr. Cove had a pulmonary embolism.
Mr. Cove visited his GP in June 2017 after breathing difficulties and reportedly coughing up blood, an ECG was undertaken by his GP which showed atrial flutter.
The GP reportedly attempted to refer him to on-call physicians for emergency admission at the Diana Princess of Wales Hospital, however, was unable to get through after being on hold.
He was then sent to the A&E department for admission in an ambulance, with the GPs referral letter.
According to reports, when the man arrived the medical team was unaware of his arrival and he was triaged with few observations.
The ECG was performed for the patient and the results suggested an abnormality, with the doctor failing to obtain a complete medical history when reviewing the patient- particularly hemoptysis.
After this further tests were performed where similar abnormal findings were made, then being diagnosed with a viral or infective exacerbation of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disorder.
Regardless of the abnormal findings in the tests, Mr. Cove was sent home on antibiotics.
The day after Mr. Cove complained of breathing difficulties, his wife left the room to retrieve an inhaler she returned to find him collapsed on the floor.
An internal investigation by NLaG identified key causes that contributed to his death, including the communication breakdown between the on-call team at the hospital.
The family of the man has received compensation after a coroner’s inquest ruled that his death was caused by a massive bilateral pulmonary embolism and cardiomyopathy.
Peter Reading, Chief Executive, at Northern Lincolnshire NHS Foundation Trust said “I would like to extend my sincere apologies and my deepest condolences to the family of the late Mr. Cove for the errors in the care he received at Grimsby hospital in 2017. We accepted liability for this at the earliest opportunity and apologized to the family at the time.”
