Hospital sent injured woman home with broken skull

Doctors at Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital failed to properly assess the patient's injuries

A woman hit by a cyclist was wrongly sent home from hospital with a fractured skull, a watchdog has found.

The university student, who was 18 when she was hit in Exeter in December 2022, spent three hours at Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital with injuries including a 3cm cut on her forehead, facial swelling, loose and chipped teeth, and pain in her neck.

She was sent home with an undiagnosed fracture to her head after doctors failed to properly assess her, the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) found.

Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the hospital, offered its "unreserved apologies [to] this patient and their family".

'Swollen face'

The woman, who has not been named, was discharged with verbal injury advice after having the cut on her head glued shut by doctors.

The following day, she felt nauseous, still had head, neck, and shoulder pain, and swelling to her face.

Her parents took her to Royal South Hampshire Hospital in Southampton, which referred her to to A&E at University of Southampton NHS Foundation Trust.

An X-ray and CT scan there revealed a fracture to the front of her skull, a broken rib and extensive facial bruising.

'Missed red flags'

The report said her family had been "shocked and angry" when they found out about the missed diagnoses.

"It felt like because she was a young person going into hospital, there was no-one to really advocate for her," said the patient's mother.

“They missed major red flags."

She said her daughter was "still suffering from the effects of her treatment", that she was "very anxious", and the experience had affected her grades.

The PHSO said the patient should have been given written advice as well as verbal about what to do if her symptoms escalated after she was discharged.

Rebecca Hilsenrath, from the PHSO, said it was "particularly important" that head injuries were "properly assessed and treated appropriately in good time".

"This patient manifested a range of symptoms of injury, was not taken seriously and was let down badly," she said.

The trust said in a statement: "We would like to share our unreserved apologies for the failures [the patient and family] experienced in the care they received.

"Offering excellent patient care across all of our services is of paramount importance to us and we are working... to meet the PHSO's recommendations to ensure we learn from this case and prevent anything like this happening again."