Trust fined following patient’s death linked to ‘outdated’ IT system

A Norfolk hospital trust has been fined £60,000 after pleading guilty to criminal charges of exposing a 28-year-old patient who died to significant risk of avoidable harm.

Queen Elizabeth Hospital King’s Lynn Foundation Trust was sentenced on Thursday 8 December at Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court, as a result of a prosecution brought by the Care Quality Commission.

The dilapidated hospital’s “outdated” computer system, which is long overdue a major upgrade, was cited as a factor in the young patient’s death, which followed a mix-up over scans.

Lucas Allard, who was awaiting heart surgery, had attended the hospital’s emergency department on 12 March 2019 with chest pain.

He was sent home after staff determined his computerised tomography scan results meant he was fit for discharge. But two days later, a consultant discovered staff had been looking at the wrong scan, and the correct report showed significant abnormality.

Mr Allard was urgently called back to the hospital but suffered a cardiac arrest shortly after arriving, and died despite attempted resuscitation.

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Source: HSJ, 9 December 2022