Addenbrooke's Hospital breached duty of care over stroke patient

Addenbrooke's Hospital has apologise over the incident which led to the patient's stroke

A hospital patient would have not suffered a "massive" stroke had she been given the correct clot reducing drug, a High Court judge ruled

The court found Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge breached its duty of care when staff treated Phoebe Pickering.

Mr Justice Ritchie said she could have had a high chance of remaining stroke-free for the rest of her life.

The trust which runs the hospital has apologised over the incident.

Court documents said in the evening of 24 September 2015, Mrs Pickering, then 52, noticed that she had pins and needles in her foot.

Her right foot became cold and white, which lasted for a few minutes before returning to normal, but then happened repeatedly.

Mrs Pickering went to A&E at Addenbrooke's Hospital where she was examined.

She was then sent to the out of hours GP, before being sent back to A&E and then home the next day, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

Over the next two days, Mrs Pickering was fine, called her GP as advised, but on 27 September suffered a "massive stroke".

The action at the High Court began in January 2020

Mrs Pickering submitted a claim and her legal team argued the trust was negligent.

Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust admitted it had been negligent in failing to treat Mrs Pickering with a clot reducing drug, court documents said.

Mr Justice Ritchie found "on the balance of probability she would not have suffered a stroke" if the drug had been given on 24 September.

He said the "hospital breached its duty of care" to her by not giving it to her.

A spokesperson for the trust said: "We are sorry that the care received by Mrs Pickering when she attended the trust was not to the standard that she was entitled to expect and that this has had such significant consequences for her."

They said the trust would "work with solicitors to ensure that her claim is settled as soon as possible so that her ongoing needs are met".