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Blood test delay led to death of gran
A grandmother-of-three died because of delays in sending her for a vital blood test, a coroner has ruled.
Maureen Bevins, 71, needed regular blood checks after being put on anti-clotting drug Warfarin following a heart operation.
An inquest at Preston Coroner's Court heard how Mrs Bevins should have been called for a blood test a week after she was discharged from hospital following a minor stroke early last year.
But she did not get the test until a month later when she collapsed at home in Greenwood, Clayton Brook, and was admitted to Chorley Hospital for a blood transfusion a few days later. Mrs Bevins died there the next morning.
Daughter Sharon Bevins now plans to take legal action against health bosses after coroner James Adeley ruled medics failed to monitor her mum's medication properly.
She said: "It's alright them saying to me they have rectified problems now but that doesn't help me. My mum is still dead because of someone's error."
Mum-of-one Sharon, 37, told the court it took a day for a community health team to send someone out to see her mum after she found her slumped in her bathroom, vomiting, and rang to ask for a home visit.
When Sharon asked for blood tests to be carried out, community matron Sara Kirkman told her she could not do them all at that time because she did not have the correct blood bottles with her.
Mrs Bevins was admitted to Chorley Hospital the next day, where it was found she had been suffering from internal bleeding for a few days. She was given a blood transfusion but died the next day.
Dr Adeley recorded a narrative verdict, that Mrs Bevins died from over-coagulation with prescribed Warfarin after a failure to appropriately monitor her coagulation level.
Mental health worker Sharon said: "I have lost my best friend. It's been horrendous."
A spokesman for Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Chorley and South Ribble Hospital, said: "We are saddened by the death of Mrs Bevin and offer our condolences to her family.
"Action has been taken to tighten up organisational procedures and new policies and additional training have been implemented to ensure that patients who are at high risk are monitored regularly once they are discharged from hospital."
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Friday 10 February 2012
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