Russells Hall Hospital: Trust pleads guilty to safety failings after two deaths

A watchdog investigated care provided before Natalie Billingham and Kaysie-Jane Robinson died, a court heard

An NHS trust pleaded guilty to safety failings after two patients died.

Natalie Billingham, 33, and Kaysie-Jane Robinson, 14, were exposed to "significant risk of avoidable harm" at Dudley's Russells Hall Hospital, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) said.

Both patients had been treated for sepsis, a court was told.

The Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust's lawyer accepted "poor care and treatment" of the teenager had caused her death.

But Paul Spencer said the organisation's guilty plea in respect of Natalie Billingham was being entered on the basis that it did not accept its failings led to her death.

The trust admitted it had failed to provide treatment in a safe way, resulting in harm, in February and March 2018.

On Friday, it admitted two breaches of the 2008 Health and Social Care Act.

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District Judge Graham Wilkinson described the proceedings as "the most serious case this court is likely to deal with in many a year".

He said: "I am grateful that we have made significant progress this afternoon.

"I am sure the families will be grateful as well."

The watchdog said the two people were exposed to "significant risk of avoidable harm" at Russells Hall Hospital

The hearing at Dudley magistrates' court was told the case followed an investigation by the CQC into the care provided by the trust before the deaths of the mother-of-six, and the teenager.

Counsel for the CQC, Ian Bridge, told a previous hearing the charges related to clinical care given to Ms Billingham and to Kaysie-Jane. He said they had been treated for sepsis.

The trust said it was "deeply sorry" care did not meet "the high standards Kaysie-Jane and Natalie and their families had a right to expect" and did not reflect the organisation's values.

In a statement, it added it continued to work closely with the CQC and wanted to reassure patients and the public that the hospital "provides a safe and compassionate environment for their care".

The trust said it had been "open and sincere" over the last three years "about what went wrong, what we have learned and how we have improved".

It added: "Today's hearing is an important part of the process that has investigated what happened, provides an opportunity to reiterate our apology to Kaysie-Jane and Natalie's families and demonstrates the major steps we have taken to invest in and improve our services since 2018."

A further case management hearing will take place at the same court on 3 September.