NHS Lothian bosses have apologised to the family of a patient who had to wait six hours on an ambulance and then suffered a fatal heart attack.
The region’s health board has been reprimanded despite initially denying any failings had occurred, after the patient’s child took their complaint to a government watchdog. An investigation by the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO) found ‘unreasonable delays’ in administering antibiotics to the individual, referred to as ‘A’ in a report, who endured an excruciating 360-minute wait.
Alison MacDonald, nurse director at NHS Lothian, apologised to the patient’s family. She added: “We accept the report from the Ombudsman and are working through the recommendations.”
After being admitted to hospital for catheter blockage, the patient began to show signs of sepsis, a potentially life-threatening condition, the report said. Further examination found that A needed urgent specialist treatment at a different facility in the region.
However, it took “approximately six hours” for an ambulance to arrive. The Ombudsman added: “A suffered a heart attack during their admission and blood-thinning medication was prescribed. However, this made the bleeding at the catheter site increase. A died in hospital several days later."
The patient’s bereaved child complained to NHS Lothian chiefs over concerns about the care and treatment of their parent – but the board said it “did not identify any failings”. However an appeal to the SPSO, the final stage for complaints about public service organisations in Scotland, led to the watchdog upholding aspects of the complaint.
A probe concluded the first hospital “had unreasonably delayed in treating A with antibiotics” which investigators said should have been done prior to being transferred to the second hospital. It also found the second hospital “had failed to recognise that A’s catheter was in the incorrect position within a reasonable timescale”.
The Ombudsman called for an apology to be made to the patient’s family and issued recommendations to avoid similar failings in future. It said: “Patients diagnosed with sepsis should have antibiotics administered promptly and without delay. Patients undergoing catheter insertion should be closely monitored so that any complications such as incorrect placement are recognised and treated without delay.”
Alison MacDonald, Nurse Director, NHS Lothian, said: “I would like to publicly repeat our apology to the family of A for the failings in this case. We accept the report from the Ombudsman and are working through the recommendations.”
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