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Coroner warning to pregnant woman over drug used to treat migraines after baby death

A coroner has warned against a type of medication that can be used to treat migraines during pregnancy after the death of a four-day-old baby.

On 13 November 2024 in Sunderland, Baby Avery Hall, died with lung damage, low oxygen levels and reduced blood flow – complications known to arise when prescription drug Candesartan is used throughout pregnancy, particularly in the second and third trimester.

Avery’s development in pregnancy was compromised by reduced amniotic fluid, leading to poor lung development and impairment of urine production by the kidneys.

His mother was prescribed Candesartan, a medication that relaxes blood vessels, to treat her recurring migraines before she became pregnant.

But in April 2024 when she fell pregnant, doctors gave her “unclear and indecisive advice”, and she was not told specifically to stop using Candesartan, despite the known risks.

David Place, a senior coroner for the City of Sunderland, issued a prevention of future deaths report on Monday. He concluded that Avery died from complications known to arise when Candesartan is used throughout pregnancy and that “action should have been taken”.

“His mother had continued to use this medication which had been prescribed to her since 2022 being unaware of the risks it posed due to a combination of unclear and indecisive advice at the outset and no additional advice about the safety of the medication from clinicians involved in her antenatal care,” Mr Place said.

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Source: The Independent, 3 February 2026

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Coroner warning over incompatible NHS systems

A coroner has warned NHS bosses that delays to the availability of mental health assessments between different teams due to outdated IT systems could lead to future deaths.

Prof Paul Marks, senior coroner for Hull and East Riding, issued a prevention of future deaths report following an inquest into the death of John Kirkman, who took his own life.

Prof Marks said healthcare teams could encounter problems accessing "vital" information about patients as a result of incompatible computer programmes and this could lead to delays in care.

A spokesperson for NHS England expressed their "deepest sympathies" to Mr Kirkman's family and said the organisation would "carefully consider" the report.

The report, sent to the chief executive of NHS England, said the organisation should take action, "possibly by reviewing the compatibility of IT systems".

The document said Mr Kirkman, who was 36, had a long history of paranoid schizophrenia and took his own life on 27 December 2023.

During the inquest, the coroner said the evidence revealed matters that caused him concern.

Prof Marks said that if a mental health screening assessment was carried out in one part of the country, the results and conclusions may not be immediately available elsewhere when a further assessment is carried out, due to the use of different IT systems.

"Absence of vital background information could result in an incorrect prioritisation for onward referral, as it did in this case," he said.

The lack of availability of clinical information and data may "adversely influence subsequent assessments", he said.

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Source: BBC News, 19 July 2025

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Coroner slams scandal-hit NHS hospital for serious failings after mother bled to death when medic refused vital blood clotting drugs after C-section following long labour

A coroner has today slammed a hospital for a series of serious failings after a mother bled to death when a medic refused to allow her vital clotting products.

Gabriela Pintilie, 36, from Grays, Essex, gave birth to her healthy baby girl, Stefania, in February last year following a C-section after a long labour. But she suffered a major haemorrhage and died from a cardiac arrest hours later.

Basildon University Hospital, in Essex, came under fire after it emerged a locum haematologist refused to give Mrs Pintilie the blood after he followed the wrong set of guidelines. The fresh frozen plasma, which could have saved her life, remained outside the theatre after senior staff were not told it was available.

Essex Coroner Caroline Beasley-Murray today slammed the hospital for a lack of clear leadership and teamwork during the crucial minutes and hours when Mrs Pintilie suffered a massive haemorrhage.

The court heard how the on-call haematologist Dr Asad Omran, who was at home,  was called but refused to give permission for vital blood-clotting drugs to be issued until further tests were run. 

An expert witness said she believed the use of clotting drugs in the 'extreme situation' would have 'significantly increased' the chances of a different outcome. Dr Omran did not initially issue blood-clotting drugs because he followed the wrong protocol. He was following protocol for a normal adult, instead of a woman in labour, which was 'completely at odds with clinical guidelines'.

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Source: Mail Online, 20 January 2020

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Coroner says student might be alive if GP had seen him

A law student who died after four remote GP consultations might have lived had he been given a face-to-face appointment, a coroner ruled.

David Nash, 26, died in November 2020 from a bone infection behind his ear that caused an abscess on the brain.

Over a 19-day period leading up to his death, he had four phone consultations with his GP.

The coroner, Abigail Combes, said the failure to see him meant he underwent surgery ten hours later than it could have been.

Andrew and Anne Nash fought for more than two years to find out whether their son would have lived if he had been seen in person by clinical staff at Burley Park Medical Centre in Leeds.

Yesterday they said they were “both saddened and vindicated by the findings that the simple and obvious, necessary step of seeing him in person would have saved his life” and wanted to make sure “others don’t die as David did”.

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Source: The Times, 21 January 2023

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Coroner raps trust for not realising woman was in ‘imminent danger’

A coroner has criticised an ambulance trust after it took nearly four hours to reach a woman who had taken an overdose. 

Taking the unusual step of publishing a prevention of future deaths report before an inquest had concluded, coroner for Gateshead and South Tyneside Terence Carney said “the real and imminent danger of [the deceased Maureen Wharton’s] admitted actions does not appear to have been appreciated and readily reacted to in a meaningful way”.

Ms Wharton called North East Ambulance Service Trust to say she was dying of cancer and had taken prescribed drugs, including an opioid-based medication and sleeping pills. She threatened to take more and later called back, appearing drowsier.

North East Ambulance Service graded the 61-year-old’s call as “category three”, which meant she should have received a response within two hours. It took three hours and 45 minutes for the ambulance service to access her flat, by which time she was already dead. 

Mr Carney pointed out no attempts had been made to identify family or other support for her, or to contact other agencies which could have responded. The inquest into her death is expected to conclude later this year. 

In a statement, NEAS said it has already made changes to safeguard patients in mental health cases, including implementing greater oversight in its control rooms, improving call transfers to crisis teams, mapping available local mental health services, introducing more staff training, and telling patients in a crisis but not at risk of physical harm about other, more appropriate, services. 

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Source: HSJ, 14 January 2020

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Coroner orders closer working between five trusts after prisoner’s death

Five NHS trusts in the South West have been ordered to make immediate improvements after the death of a 20-year-old prisoner who needed healthcare.

Lewis Francis was arrested in Wells, Somerset, in 2017 after stabbing his mother while “acutely psychotic” and taken into custody. Although his condition mandated a transfer to a medium secure mental health hospital, there was “no mechanism” in place to move Mr Francis and he was taken to prison, where he died by suicide two days later, according to a coroner.

Contributory factors to his death included “insufficient collaboration, communication and ownership between and within organisations… together with insufficient knowledge of… the Mental Health Act,” according to Nicholas Rheinberg, the assistant coroner for Exeter and Greater Devon.

In a Prevention of Future Deaths report, Mr Rheinberg said a memorandum of understanding was in place for the transfer of “mentally ill prisoners direct from police custody” in the West Midlands, and he called on the South West Provider Collaborative to agree a similar deal with “relevant organisations and agencies”.

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Source: HSJ, 14 July 2020

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Coroner issues warning on NHS mental health services after girl’s suicide

A coroner has said Britain is failing young people and more will die because of under-resourced mental health services, as she ruled that neglect led to the death of a 14-year-old girl.

Penelope Schofield, the senior coroner for West Sussex, said she would write to the health secretary, Sajid Javid, to raise concerns after the case of Robyn Skilton, who killed herself after being let down by “gross failures” in NHS mental health services.

Robyn, from Horsham in West Sussex, disappeared from her family home and took her own life in a park on 7 May last year, her inquest in Chichester heard.

Despite serious concerns about her mental health, Robyn did not get face-to-face consultations, was not seen by a child psychiatrist or assessed for mental health issues, and was discharged from an NHS service a month before her suicide though she was on its high-risk “red list”.

Her father, Alan Skilton, told the inquest he pleaded for help, and he described the lack of care his daughter received as “astonishing”. He said he believed that if Robyn had been seen earlier, her mental health would have improved and she would not have killed herself.

The coroner said: “As a society we are failing young people.” She said she was shocked to hear that the number of young people seeking mental health help had increased by 95%. “Trying to manage it without more resources means we are not providing the help that young people need. Robyn’s case is a testament to that. It’s a clear risk that more lives will be lost if we don’t address it.”

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Source: The Guardian, 29 June 2022

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Coroner issues anaesthetic warning after death

A coroner has raised concerns about how local anaesthetic is administered after a woman was given too much during an operation and later died.

Rachel Gibson, 47, went into cardiac arrest following hip replacement surgery at Spire Lea Hospital in Cambridge on 12 April 2022.

She sustained irreversible brain damage and died at Addenbrooke’s Hospital three months later.

In a prevention of future deaths report to the Royal College of Anaesthetists (RCOA), coroner Philip Barlow said there was "inconsistency" with the way local anaesthetic was measured, increasing the risk of mistakes.

He said: "The evidence was that the drug was sometimes specified in millilitres and sometimes in milligrams.

"This is of particular concern when the intention is for the drug to be diluted."

In the case of Dr Gibson, an inquest found the intention was for a 2% solution of Ropivacaine to be diluted with normal saline before it was infiltrated.

Evidence suggested it was not done and an excessive amount of the drug was administered by mistake.

Mr Barlow said evidence suggested this type of practice was common nationally.

He added: "The hospital [Spire] has now introduced a system for labelling and countersigning the drug that was given during the operation.

"However, the evidence at the inquest was that, on a national basis, there is wide variation in the way local anaesthetic is prescribed, checked and administered in this type of procedure; and that it is common to use similar practice to that which occurred during this operation".

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Source: BBC News, 3 September 2024

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Coroner highlights lack of specialist ME care

A coroner has highlighted the lack of specialist care for patients with myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) after the death of a 27-year-old woman.

Deborah Archer has spoken out following the death of Maeve Boothby-O’Neill, who had suffered with ME for a decade before she died at home in Exeter in October 2021 from severe malnutrition.

The coroner said there was no current available funding for research into and treatment for the chronic fatigue syndrome and there was “extremely limited” training for doctors treating patients.

The 10-day hearing focused on the final few months of her life, by which time she was confined to bed, unable to chew food and had difficulty drinking because she was not able to sit up.

The coroner said the evidence showed there were no specialist hospitals or hospices, beds, wards or other healthcare provision in England for patients with severe ME.

Maeve's father, Sean O’Neill, described the coroner’s report as "short, stark and shocking".

He said: "She has found that NHS care for people with severe ME is ‘non-existent’, that medical training is ‘extremely limited’ and research budgets inadequate. She warns there will be further deaths from ME unless action is taken."

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Source: BBC News, 7 October 2023

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Coroner expresses concerns over NHS menopause care after death of teacher

A coroner has expressed wide-ranging concerns about how the NHS cares for women during menopause after the death of a 54-year-old teacher who killed herself after a decline in her mental health.

Jacqueline Anne Potter took her own life during overnight leave from an acute psychiatric unit in Somerset where she was being looked after because of mental health issues exacerbated by menopause.

In a prevention of future deaths report, senior coroner Samantha Marsh said she was concerned about the “lack of importance” given to menopausal care available on the NHS.

She said: “Women who are not fortunate enough to be able to access private clinics and facilities may not be able to access the services and expertise they need at a very crucial transitional phase in their lives. Menopause is not a lifestyle choice, it is an unavoidable part of a woman’s natural biological cycle.”

The coroner said: “Given her presentation it would appear that her underlying anxiety had been slowly building; possibly since 2008 but much more so since 2017.”

She started HRT but in September 2022 declined again and the following month agreed to a voluntary admission to an acute psychiatric unit after she was found wandering in traffic. She was detained there under the Mental Health Act.

Last month an inquest jury concluded that Potter’s death was suicide and said menopause “contributed to her mental health decline and exacerbated her underlying anxiety”. The jury also said that her family “did not receive appropriate information to assist them in keeping Anne safe for an overnight stay”.

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Source: The Guardian, 29 April 2025

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Coroner criticises NHS trust’s treatment of family of woman who killed herself

An NHS trust has “not covered itself in glory” in its dealings with the family of a vulnerable young woman who killed herself after being refused admission to hospital, a coroner has found.

The three-day hearing looked at evidence withheld from the original inquest into the death of Sally Mays, who killed herself in 2014 after being turned away from a mental health unit.

Mays was failed by staff “neglect” at Miranda House in Hull, a 2015 inquest ruled, after a 14-minute assessment led to her being refused a place, despite being a suicide risk.

Her parents, Angela and Andy Mays, won a high court battle in December to hear details of an informal chat outside the building between Laura Elliot, a community mental health nurse who was supporting Mays, and the consultant psychiatrist Dr Kwame Fofie, which only later came to light.

This was ruled to be “neither a clinical conversation nor an attempt to escalate her care” by senior coroner Prof Paul Marks on Wednesday.

He said: “It was a conversation between colleagues in which the frustrations of the working day were vented.”

But, he said: “The trust has not covered itself in glory with regard to its dealings with the family and the disclosing of documents.”

The Mays have spent the last seven years fighting to hear details of the car park conversation, which could have changed their understanding of what happened before their daughter died.

Angela Mays added: “I never considered myself to be a campaigner. I have only considered myself to be a mother who actually wants the truth about the facts relating to her daughter’s death.”

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Source: The Guardian, 28 September 2022

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Coroner criticises NHS after death of patient with broken neck who was shunted between hospitals three times

An 88-year-old woman with a broken neck died after being transferred three times between two hospitals in the space of just 48 hours, The Independent has reveal.

The death of Jean Waghorn, who died after contracting pneumonia in hospital, sparked criticism from a coroner who said the NHS trust had ignored earlier warnings over moving patients between hospitals. Senior coroner Veronica Deeley had issued two official alerts to Brighton and Sussex Hospitals Trust last year after the deaths of frail elderly patients who were wrongly shuttled between hospitals.

But despite this, in June this year Ms Waghorn, who broke her neck after falling at home, was repeatedly transferred between the Princess Royal Hospital in Sussex and Brighton’s Royal Sussex County Hospital. She caught pneumonia and died two days later.

The hospital, which is rated good by the CQC, has now apologised and said it has learned lessons from the case. A spokesperson said it did take action following the previous warnings and added that work was ongoing to ensure the changes were consistently applied.

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Source: The Independent, 17 December 2019

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Coroner concerned with Barts NHS trust after woman 'unlawfully killed'

Barts Health NHS Trust has been told to take action to prevent future deaths after an elderly woman was unlawfully killed at one of its hospitals.

East London acting senior coroner Graeme Irvine sent a report to the trust in which he raised concerns over the death of 78-year-old Surekha Shivalkar in 2018.

The report follows an inquest into Mrs Shivalkar's death, which reached a narrative conclusion incorporating a finding of unlawful killing.

A Barts spokesperson said the trust had made a number of changes after carrying out an investigation.

Mrs Shivalkar underwent hip replacement revision surgery at Newham Hospital on September 28, 2018 in a procedure estimated to last between four and five hours, the coroner wrote. 

She had a number of serious conditions, including ischaemic heart disease, osteoporosis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder. But Mr Irvine said an inaccurate risk of death of less than 5% was given, as no formal risk assessment tool was used. 

The surgery took longer than seven and a half hours, during which time Mr Irvine said Mrs Shivalkar sustained a "prolonged and dangerous" period of hypotension, or low blood pressure.

He said the anaesthetist failed to communicate this to the surgical team and agreed to prolong surgery at the six hour point.

Mr Irvine said: "Poor communication between the orthopaedic surgical team and the anaesthetist during surgery led to a collective failure to identify a critically ill patient."

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Source: Newham Recorder, 17 January 2022

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Coroner calls for UK anaphylaxis register after Pret a Manger deaths

The families of two Pret a Manger customers who died after experiencing severe allergic reactions have welcomed a report from a senior coroner suggesting hospitals should be obliged to report fatal and near-fatal anaphylaxis.

Maria Voisin, the senior coroner for Avon, said a robust system of capturing and recording serious cases of anaphylaxis could provide an early warning of the risk posed to allergic individual byproducts with an undeclared allergen content.

She said the system could involve mandatory reporting by hospitals to local health protection officials of anaphylaxis similar to the current system for notifiable diseases.

Voisin sent her recommendations in a prevention of future deaths report to bodies including the UK health department and the Food Standards Agency (FSA) after the case of Celia Marsh, a Wiltshire dental nurse with a severe dairy allergy who died after eating a “vegan” Pret a Manger wrap contaminated with milk protein.

Marsh’s family said: “We welcome the prevention of future deaths report as the next step in our fight to make the world a safe place for allergy sufferers like our beloved mum and wife.

“Above all, we hope that the FSA, UK Health Security Agency and the Department of Health and Social Care will now start working together to put in place a system for mandatory reporting of fatal and near-fatal anaphylactic reactions to allow the public to be alerted of unsafe allergen products and provide an accurate record of such incidents. This will ensure important lessons can be learned with the appropriate enforcement action being taken.”

Tanya Ednan-Laperouse, whose 15-year-old daughter, Natasha, died in 2016 after eating a Pret baguette containing sesame seeds, said: “The coroner’s clear and concise recommendations should herald a transformation of the way anaphylaxis cases are dealt with in this country and mean that Celia’s death was not in vain.

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Source: The Guardian 5 December 2022

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Coroner calls for new guidance on umbilical venous catheters after baby’s death

A newborn baby died after doctors caring for him failed to realise that the umbilical venous catheter (UVC) through which he was being fed and medicated was wrongly positioned, a coroner has found.

Anna Crawford, assistant coroner for Surrey, called for guidelines from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) on the use of the catheters after hearing that none currently exist.

Yo Li was born extremely prematurely at St Peter’s Hospital in Chertsey on 11 January 2019 and transferred to the neonatal intensive care unit, where he was put on mechanical ventilation. A UVC was inserted but it was wrongly positioned within his liver tissue and he died four days later.

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Source: BMJ, 29 January 2021

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Coroner calls for circumcision safety measures after baby’s death in London

A coroner has warned that more babies could die from infected circumcisions in the UK after the death of a six-month-old boy exposed a lack of infection control training and accreditation for circumcisers.

Mohamed Abdisamad died in February 2023 of a streptococcus infection. He had a cardiorespiratory arrest on his way to hospital a week after undergoing a non-therapeutic circumcision, an inquest at west London coroner’s court found in October.

In a prevention of future deaths report published this week, the assistant coroner Anton van Dellen urged the government to take action to avoid similar tragedies.

He wrote: “During the inquest, the evidence revealed matters giving rise to concern. In my opinion there is a risk that future deaths could occur unless action is taken.”

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Source: Guardian, 2 January 2026

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Coroner calls for changes to how asthma attacks are assessed after ‘skin tone’ confusion in death of 22-year-old

A coroner has called for urgent improvements to how asthma attacks are assessed by emergency services after a mixed-race 22-year-old died due to a misinterpretation of him being described as a 'deathly colour'.

Roman Barr was assessed as not being an urgent case when his parents called for an ambulance, and was told he would have to wait several hours for one to arrive.

Mr Barr was of mixed race and had a 'darker skin tone', so the description of being a 'deathly colour' was misinterpreted, even though he had 'bluish lips' and was critically ill.

A lack of ambulance availability meant that he died on the way to the hospital when his parents decided to drive him themselves after suffering a cardiac arrest.

Now a coroner has said that early intervention from emergency services could have prevented Mr Barr's death.

On December 14 2023, Mr Barr was at work when he had an asthma attack, and his dad took him home, where he tried to use his inhaler but had no improvement.

His dad called for an ambulance, but he was not assessed as a 'critical' case, and his family was told it would take several hours for an ambulance to be available.

His family called 999 three times, but when his dad assessed his symptoms to the call handler, he misunderstood what they meant by a 'deathly colour'.

He told the call handler that his son was of mixed race and had a 'darker skin tone', so he was seen as not being in a critical condition.

Mr Barr had 'bluish lips' at the time and was 'critically unwell'.

At Mr Barr's inquest, it was found that he died from asthma and a narrative conclusion was given.

This conclusion said: "The deceased died as a result of an asthma attack.

"Information indicating the need for an urgent ambulance response was not obtained, and because no ambulance was available for several hours, he was taken to hospital by his family.

"On the balance of probabilities, earlier intervention by an emergency ambulance would have prevented his death.”

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Source: The Independent, 16 April 2026

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Coroner calls for allergies tsar after 17-year-old dies from anaesthetic reaction

A senior coroner has warned that more allergy sufferers will die due to a “lack of national leadership” following the death of a 17-year-old aspiring doctor.

Heidi Connor said the “tragic” case of Alexandra Briess was “not new territory”, citing three recent cases where people had died from anaphylaxis.

She has now written to the Government saying lives are at risk without better funding and research into the condition and calling for the appointment of an allergies tsar.

The Berkshire coroner’s warning comes after an inquest into the death of “bright and well loved” Alexandra, who died from a reaction to a common anaesthetic.

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Source: The Times, 18 April 2023

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Coroner and friends criticise NHS treatment of 24-year-old anorexia victim

A coroner has criticised health professionals for failing to give a young woman who died after suffering severe anorexia the support and care she needed.

Maria Jakes, 24, died of multiple organ failure in September 2018 after struggling for years with the eating disorder.

Coroner Sean Horstead last week concluded that the agencies involved in the Peterborough waitress’s care missed several key opportunities to monitor her illness properly. Mr Horstead said that there had been insufficient record-keeping and a failure to notify eating disorder specialists in the weeks before her death, following treatment at Addenbrooke’s and Peterborough City Hospital.

He also criticised the lack of specialist eating disorder dieticians at Addenbrookes and Peterborough hospitals, “together with a nursing team insufficiently trained and knowledgeable of eating disorder patients”, both of which had contributed to the lack of monitoring of Maria.

Despite the criticism the father of another anorexia victim, whose death was described in a Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman’s report as an “avoidable tragedy”, has said the inquest failed to properly address or challenge the “lack of care” that Maria received from the NHS.

Nic Hart, whose daughter Averil died in 2012 at the age of 19, criticised the inquest as “a very one sided process”. He told The Telegraph: “No real challengers were made of the clinical evidence or indeed of the lack of care that poor Maria received.”

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Source: The Telegraph, 21 December 2019

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Coroner advises NHS England to warn prescribers about interaction of tramadol and warfarin

NHS England has been told it must take action to raise awareness about the potentially fatal interaction between tramadol and warfarin, following the death of a patient.

Graham Danbury, assistant coroner for Hertfordshire, issued a prevention of future deaths report on 1 December 2023, after Susan Gladstone, from Hertfordshire, died on 8 January 2021 from a bleed in the brain.

An inquest, which ended on 20 November 2023, concluded that Gladstone “died as a result of a generally unknown interaction between warfarin and tramadol, which caused exceptional thinning of her blood”. 

Gladstone was prescribed tramadol twice for lower back pain: on 20 December 2020 and 4 January 2021. According to the report, she had been taking the anticoagulation medication warfarin for “a number of years”.

The report continues: “There was nothing to warn the prescribing doctor of any possible interaction. I found on the balance of probabilities that an interaction between tramadol and warfarin had caused this dangerous, and in the event, fatal INR to develop.

“In my opinion, actions should be taken to prevent future deaths and I believe you, NHS England, have the power to take such action.”

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Source: Pharmaceutical Journal, 13 December 2023

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Coronavirus: Year-long waits for hospital care in England worst since 2008

The number of people waiting over a year for hospital treatment in England has hit its highest levels since 2008.

Patients are meant to be seen within 18 weeks - but nearly 140,000 of the 4.35 million on the waiting list at the end of September had waited over a year.

Surgeons said it was "tragic" patients were being left in pain while they waited for treatment, including knee and hip operations.

And others warned the situation could become even worse during winter.

In recent weeks, major hospitals in Bradford, Leeds, Nottingham, Birmingham and Liverpool, which have seen high rates of infection, have announced the mass cancellation of non-urgent work.

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Source: BBC News, 12 November 2020

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Coronavirus: Winter plans revealed in leaked Sage report

A leaked government report suggests a "reasonable worst case scenario" of 85,000 deaths across the UK this winter due to COVID-19.

The document also says while more restrictions could be re-introduced, schools would likely remain open.

But it says the report "is a scenario, not a prediction" and the data are subject to "significant uncertainty".

However some are critical of the modelling and say some of it is already out of date.

The document, which has been seen by BBC Newsnight, was prepared for the government by the Sage scientific advisory group, which aims to help the NHS and local authorities plan services, such as mortuaries and burial services, for the winter months ahead.

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Source: BBC News, 29 August 2020

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Coronavirus: What's happening in UK care homes right now is a scandal our grandchildren will ask about

Once COVID-19 seeps into care homes, it is a monumentally difficult job to protect the residents, writes Sky's Alex Crawford.

We will look back at this appalling, tragic episode in our global history, and our children and grandchildren will ask us: "Did that really happen? Did you really leave the most vulnerable of our society - the elderly, the infirm, the defenceless, the muddled, sick and weak - in care homes, shut away from their closest relatives? Did you leave them to be ravaged by a deadly virus, and do very little to help them?"

Because that is what's happening right now. There are elderly people - many with Alzheimer's, many with dementia, many frail - in thousands of residential homes up and down Britain, and they are very much at risk.

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Source: Sky News, 11 Aril 2020

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Coronavirus: What is the true death toll of the pandemic?

At least another 130,000 people worldwide have died during the coronavirus pandemic on top of 440,000 officially recorded deaths from the virus, according to BBC research.

A review of preliminary mortality data from 27 countries shows that in many places the number of overall deaths during the pandemic has been higher than normal, even when accounting for the virus.

These so-called "excess deaths", the number of deaths above the average, suggest the human impact of the pandemic far exceeds the official figures reported by governments around the world.

Some will be unrecorded COVID-19 victims, but others may be the result of the strain on healthcare systems and a variety of other factors.

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Source: BBC News, 18 June 2020

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Coronavirus: What is the hidden health cost?

The rising death toll from coronavirus is never far from the headlines, but hidden behind the daily figures is what public health experts refer to as the "parallel epidemic". This is the wider impact on people's health that is the result of dealing with a pandemic.

UK chief medical adviser Prof Chris Witty has been referring to this with increasing frequency during the daily briefings, speaking about the "indirect" costs of coronavirus.

But what is it, and how significant could it be?

Routine treatments, such as hip and knee replacements, were cancelled across the UK. This alone will have a significant impact on people's lives, though it is unlikely to kill anyone. However, the pandemic has also had a knock-on effect on emergency care. Data collected by Public Health England from a sample of A&E departments in England shows attendances have halved since the pandemic started. The trend has prompted NHS leaders to urge patients to come forward for treatment.

Cancer screening has been suspended in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland and drastically cut back in England. But it is not only an issue for cancer patients, people with chronic conditions like diabetes or kidney disease may face trying to manage their conditions remotely without the regular face-to-face contact they would have with health professionals. 

The pandemic is also the 'perfect storm' for mental health.

The full impact could take years to unravel.

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Source: BBC News, 29 April 2020

 

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