On March 16, 2021, Tyrone Airey packed a bag to go to Northwick Park hospital in Wembley. Having suffered from sickle cell disease since birth, it was a journey he knew all too well. Usually, he would receive medication to ease the excruciating pain, before eventually discharging himself. This time he did not come home.
Tyrone, 46, died of cardiorespiratory failure after being given a toxic dose of morphine. A coroner later ruled that his death was “contributed to by neglect”. Nurses were found to have “insufficient training” to care for Tyrone, and he spent nearly three hours on the haematology ward without receiving a patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) pump, an essential tool for managing the extreme pain caused by a sickle cell crisis. A subsequent investigation by the Health Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB) found that staff on the ward were not trained at all in the use of the device.
