Coroners warn of risk to lives without urgent reform of NHS adult care

Health secretary Wes Streeting has been urged to speed up reforms to the adult care system in the wake of patient deaths after two coroners warned him of the impact insufficient care beds and service provision are having on the NHS.

Last month, coroners sent two ­prevention of future deaths (PFD) reports to the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) after the ­inability to discharge patients at two hospitals was linked to the deaths of others awaiting treatment.

In the first case, a man died “following a grossly excessive ­ambulance delay attributable to a systemic ­failure related to the whole system of health and social care”, according to the PFD report from Guy Davies, ­assistant ­coroner for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.

The total ambulance delay of nearly 19 hours was judged by the inquest to be “possibly causative of death”.

The inquest found that when the ambulance reached the Royal Cornwall hospital in Truro, there were 11 others queueing to hand over patients to A&E, which was built to house 44 patients but was holding 56.

The lack of available beds was the result of patients who were ready for discharge but forced to remain in the hospital because of “inadequate social care provision, community hospital provision and primary healthcare support”.

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Source: The Guardian, 6 October 2024