Investigation and inquest
On 13th March 2018 I commenced an investigation into the death of Rita Elizabeth GILES. The investigation concluded at the end of the inquest on 5th July 2018. The conclusion of the inquest was NARRATIVE CONCLUSION.
Circumstances of the death
See Record of Inquest
Coroner’s concerns
(1) Unnecessary transfers to and from the Princess Royal Hospital with no supporting paperwork.
(2) The Trust’s own Transfer Policy not adhered too in any respect.
(3) Delay in her endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography ERCP until she was so ill that it needed to be done on the CEPOD list under general anaesthetic and required ICU support. This lady never recovered from this procedure and died a few days later.
(4) At Inquest it was explained to me that there are only three people in the Trust that can carry out ERCP work, they have one list each a week, lists are only on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. The lists seem to be booked well in advance so there is little or no resource for the patient who comes in as Miss Giles did with an urgent requirement.
There was a failure to appreciate that as she was already septic when she came in the matter was urgent.
From the Inquest it appeared that the Princess Royal Hospital was not the right place for her to be, there is argument to suggest that she should have been transferred early to the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton and presumably if she needed urgent treatment she could have had it. Surely, the lists are designed to accommodate the patients not the other way round.