NHS trust contacts hundreds of families in effort at honesty over Covid hospital infections

An NHS trust has become the first in the country to individually contact every family of patients who caught coronavirus while they were in hospital in a large-scale bid to be transparent over the scale of infections.

Bosses at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Kings Lynn NHS Trust have set up a team to work through hundreds of cases where patients caught coronavirus in hospital.

At least 99 patients are known to have died after becoming infected with more cases still to review.

In a unique approach to transparency the trust is sending a letter by recorded delivery to every affected patient or family where it is thought the patient picked up the virus within the hospital.

The letter offers an apology for what happened and is followed by a phone call with a nurse and a meeting with officials if families have more concerns. Some families have asked to meet the nurses who cared for their loved ones.

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Source: The Independent, 6 June 2021