Huntingdon hospital trust apologises for failing dad-to-be who died

Adam Hurst had been "super excited" to become a parent with his wife Victoria

A hospital trust has apologised after admitting it failed a father-to-be who died hours after arriving at its emergency department.

Adam Hurst, 31, collapsed after arriving at Hinchingbrooke Hospital, Cambridgeshire, in December 2018.

He had a history of abdominal pain and was born with a rare, undetected congenital diaphragmatic hernia.

North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust's chief nurse, Joanne Bennis, said: "We are truly sorry."

Mr Hurst's widow, Victoria, said it was "heartbreaking" for her daughter to grow up without her dad.

Victoria Hurst started the Adam's Rose charity to help people experiencing grief in light of his death

Mr Hurst, a builder from Godmanchester, had been experiencing mild symptoms for about eight months before severe abdominal pain led his wife to take him to A&E at the hospital in Huntingdon on 7 December 2018.

Mrs Hurst, who was then 25 weeks' pregnant with their first child, said her husband was "on his hands and knees" and could not breathe.

The youth football coach had to wait three hours for a CT scan, which subsequently found he had a diaphragmatic hernia and fluid in his abdomen.

While preparations were made for surgery, he went into a cardiac arrest and died.

At the inquest into his death, the coroner concluded it was "not possible to say whether on the balance of probabilities earlier surgery would have resulted in a different outcome due to the rare and complex nature of the surgery".

But the hospital's serious incident report, seen by the BBC, found Mr Hurst's pain "should have been more aggressively managed, from the outset".

Mr Hurst died before his daughter, Alice, was born in February 2019

Mrs Hurst said: "It's quite hard to put into words, really - how do you live with knowing due to [the hospital's] failures his life was ended?

"My daughter has to grow up without her dad. It's heartbreaking for her and for him. He misses out on seeing her grow up."

Mrs Hurst, of Wyton on the Hill, between Huntingdon and St Ives, gave birth to Alice in February 2019.

She said her husband "couldn't wait" to have his own children and would have been an "amazing" dad.

"He was a big kid at heart, really. So gentle, caring - just perfect," she added.

She has since set-up the Adam's Rose charity to help other families experiencing grief.

'Truly sorry'

Ms Bennis said the trust wanted to offer "our deepest sympathies and condolences" to the Hurst family.

"We always try to do our best for our patients but on this occasion we failed Adam and his family, and for that we are truly sorry," she said.

"Our staff strive to provide high quality care at all times, and this was not the case in this instance."

She said "several changes" were made to prevent similar failings happening again, following a "thorough investigation".

She thanked the Adam's Rose charity for its support to families experiencing grief at the hospital.