A FAMILY have accused Southend Hospital of “failing” their great-grandfather after a “do not resuscitate” error delayed CPR before he died.
In a letter to the family, the Mid and South Essex NHS Trust admitted staff did not begin CPR on Barrie Gilbert, 82, until five minutes after he stopped breathing, “incorrectly presuming” he had a do not resuscitate order.
Mr Gilbert, from Canvey, died September 6 last year after suffering a cardiac arrest.
His family say he was “literally forgotten” after a nine-hour gap between observations carried out by staff.
In a letter to Barrie’s son Chris Gilbert, who complained to the NHS over his dad’s care, the ward matron stated ward staff “incorrectly presumed” Barrie had a DNR in place having viewed “incorrect patient notes”.
The trust has apologised to Barrie’s family and promised learning will be taken to “prevent this from happening again”. An inquest into the much-loved granddad’s death has been set for May 29.
Chris said: “He didn’t receive the right treatment, he didn’t receive CPR when he should have because they mixed up his notes. It was negligence, that’s the only word.
“He did not deserve to be cast aside, literally forgotten and alone to die at the end of a cold and harsh ward.
“He was a hero to his eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren, we are left with the horrific knowledge that he was completely and utterly failed by the staff.
“No amount of training modules can compensate for what happened, the staff who were on shift that night are not fit for purpose.”
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Chris said the family are exploring legal action in response to Barrie’s treatment at Southend Hospital.
The letter sent to Chris states: “Whilst Mr Gilbert was unresponsive on Stambridge Ward, an incorrect escalation process was followed by the nursing team as they had incorrectly presumed that Mr Gilbert had a do not attempt resuscitation order in place when he had not.
“The nursing team had viewed incorrect patient notes and this meant that there was a delay of approximately five minutes prior to starting CPR. There was also a 9-hour gap in-between observations and a single dose of antibiotics had not been given to Mr Gilbert.
“We apologise for the lapses in care that were found during our investigation.”
Sharon McNally, chief nursing officer for Mid and South Essex NHS Trust, said: “We’d like to reiterate our sincere condolences and apologies to Mr Gilbert’s family.
"As an organisation that seeks to learn and improve, understanding where we didn’t get things right is important to us. We carried out a full investigation of the concerns and have taken action to improve our care.”
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