Three deaths and ‘severe harm’ at trust with treatment delays

At least three people died and more came to ‘severe harm’ after treatment delays across three specialties at one hospital trust, new reports have revealed.

King’s College Hospital Foundation Trust commissioned harm reviews due to problems with a lack of capacity and poor management of waiting lists in endoscopy, dermatology and ophthalmology pre-pandemic. Most of the problems relate to the trust’s southern site, Princess Royal University Hospital, and took place before the current executive team took over.

The most recent board papers revealed a review of 614 cases at the PRUH’s endoscopy service found seven cases of “serious harm”. This category includes death and the document revealed three patients had died. 

The review also “highlighted delays in endoscopy leading to delayed diagnoses of cancer” in 2018-19 and 2019-20.

Investigators also found a dermatology patient came to “severe harm” after being lost to follow-up twice by the trust.

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Source: HSJ, 17 September 2021