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Grandmother dies after a catalogue of blunders

Amanda Crook
1/ 5/2008

A GRANDMOTHER taken to a Manchester hospital with pneumonia broke her hip and caught two infections before she died there two months later.

Sheila Bennett, 74, suffered a catalogue of errors and failings after she was taken to the Manchester Royal Infirmary with pneumonia in October.

Mrs Bennett, from Levenshulme, was recovering from pneumonia when she fell and broke her hip but it was four days before doctors diagnosed the problem and another four days before she had surgery.

After the operation Mrs Bennett caught the superbug C difficile and just days before she died staff realised she was suffering from a second infection, which combined with her existing illnesses and led to her heart and lungs failing in December.

Her son Anthony has complained his mother suffered horrendous failures in nursing care, that she was left lying in dirty sheets and he found medication scattered in her bed.

Hospital bosses have apologised and promised to make improvements but Anthony is planning to take his complaint further fearing other vulnerable people may be put in the same position. Anthony, a carer from Longsight said: "My mum did not get the basic nursing care which everyone should expect in an NHS hospital, I was shocked and distressed at the way she was treated and I am worried the same thing might be happening to someone else who has no relatives to stick up for them.

"I will never know whether my Mum would still be here if she had not fallen and caught those infections in hospital and that is very difficult to live with.

"I feel she would have had a kinder and more dignified death if she had been knocked down in a road accident rather than endure two months of hospital ‘care’." Mrs Bennett worked as a domestic cleaner at Manchester University for many years and had two grandchildren.

She became ill and was admitted to the MRI on October 13 with pneumonia and a collapsed lung, whilst in hospital she was also diagnosed with lung cancer.

Her family were told she might not survive but she responded well to treatment.

On November 2 she fell over on her way back from the toilet. Four days later she was diagnosed with a broken hip but it was another four days before she had surgery to set the bone.

Her health deteriorated again in the days after the operation and she was drip-fed between November 10-14. On November 30 she was diagnosed with C diff which causes

Mike Deegan, chief executive of Central Manchester Hospitals Trust, which runs the MRI said in a letter to her son: "Clearly and regrettably there were a number of instances where your mother’s care and the communication with you fell below the standard that we would expect.

"A lead nurse will be working to develop an ongoing action plan to ensure these concerns are urgently acted on and monitored on a regular basis."

A spokesman for the hospital trust confirmed it had investigated the complaint.