Morecambe Bay NHS Trust: Patient death daughter's pain at review findings

Nicola Read says it was "upsetting to read failure after failure" in the report

The daughter of a patient whose death prompted an investigation into a hospital department said its damning findings were "heartbreaking".

The review of University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust's (UHMBT) urology services came after Peter Read's death in 2015, partly due to failings in his care.

The report identified 520 cases where patients may have come to harm, including cases where patients died.

Karen Beamer said she felt "let down".

The urology department provides services across the trust's three hospitals; Lancaster Infirmary in Lancashire, and Furness General Hospital and Westmorland General Hospital in Cumbria.

Tim Farron MP called for the government to take over the running of the trust, saying he had no confidence in its management.

The Westmorland and Lonsdale MP told BBC North West Tonight the review's findings were "horrific".

The report by Niche Health and Social Care Consulting found a "dysfunctional" department, significant clashes between consultants going back 20 years and a failure of the trust to deal with it, despite concerns being repeatedly raised.

Ms Beamer told BBC Radio Lancashire the report made "difficult reading".

The number of failings listed was "heartbreaking" as following her 76-year-old father's death at Lancaster Royal Infirmary she and her sister Nicola Read "were assured that any issues had been addressed in October 2015".

"That's another six years of patients not being given the treatment they should have [had]," she said.

She felt "let down" by all the assurances the family had been given by the trust.

"No other family should have to go through something like this," she added.

Peter Read died in 2015 at the Royal Lancaster Infirmary

Ms Read said it was "really upsetting to read failure after failure" highlighted in the report by Niche Health and Social Care Consulting.

The trust, which has been approached for a comment, has previously said sorry and that it had already implemented a number of improvements.

Aaron Cummins, chief executive of UHMBT, said: "On behalf of the trust, I would like to apologise to patients and families who have experienced any kind of harm or distress caused by the events chronicled in the report.

"Some progress has already been made over the last couple of years and the trust will continue to ensure improvements are made as quickly as possible and are sustained."

Mr Cummins said the trust had already implemented many of the recommendations made by the Royal College of Surgeons (RCS).

The RCS made a number of urgent recommendations to the trust's trauma and orthopaedics department and there was an investigation after failures at Furness General Hospital led to the unnecessary deaths of 11 babies and one mother.

Mr Farron added that most of the trust's staff were doing a brilliant job and it was unfair they were having to be tainted by this latest scandal.

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