Jeremy Hunt apologises for treatment errors
Posted: May 17, 2014
Posted in: Medical Negligence Wrongful & Accidental Death
After a stroke patient was turned away from hospital late last year, health secretary Jeremy Hunt has personally apologised to the family. 89-year-old John Mallalieu from Caunton died in December, having been turned away by a hospital’s specialist unit. Two weeks prior to Mr Mallalieu’s death, his ambulance was diverted from a hospital near Mansfield to Nottingham. Firstly, the ambulance took 90 minutes to arrive before he was told that the specialist stroke unit at King’s Mill Hospital could not accept him.
A report into the treatment of Mr Mallalieu found a “catalogue of errors” accountable for the “unacceptable delay” in him being treated. It was found that after King’s Mill turned Mr Mallalieu away, they phoned to say that they were closing for the weekend and told the ambulance to go to Nottingham City Hospital.
“Catastrophic mistakes”
The report found that Mr Mallalieu did not receive treatment for three hours and died two weeks later in intensive care. Mr Hunt said that major lessons had been learnt from the “catastrophic mistakes”. In an interview at BBC Nottingham, Mr Hunt said that the errors in Mr Mallalieu’s treatment were simply unacceptable. He continued: “I would personally like to apologise for what happened.”
Sherwood Forest Hospitals Trust, which runs King’s Mill Hospital and the East Midlands Ambulance Service, said that no one would be disciplined for the mistakes, but that many lessons have been learnt from what happened. They blamed “systematic” or “organizational” errors for the mistakes in Mr Mallalieu’s care, and said that many changes would be made.
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