Kettering hospital failed patient who later died - coroner

Coroner says Kettering General Hospital failed patient Lindy Aston when she arrived at the unit

A woman who died, after being moved to a hospital for emergency surgery, was failed by the team caring for her prior to the transfer, a coroner has ruled.

Lindy Aston, 67, was at the point of death from a suspected splenic rupture when she was taken to Kettering General Hospital in October 2021.

She needed life-saving surgery to stop internal bleeding but was placed in the intensive care unit instead.

Mrs Aston was later transferred to a Leicester hospital as an emergency.

Coroner Isobel Thistlethwaite, for Leicester City and South Leicestershire, believed action now needed to be taken by the Northamptonshire NHS trust to prevent future deaths.

Miss Thistlethwaite said she did not understand why the surgery did not take place as it was an operation the hospital did provide.

The coroners' court was told Mrs Aston should have undergone a splenectomy within an hour of her arrival, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

Instead, she was placed in ICU before being transferred to Leicester Royal Infirmary, (LRI), where she had previously been treated for stomach cancer.

She received a splenectomy within 10 minutes of arriving at LRI.

She "remained very unwell" after the operation and was transitioned to palliative care two days later, but died later that day.

Miss Thistlethwaite said: "I am concerned about the fact that the decision about whether to operate on a patient or not lies with one single surgeon, with seemingly no checks or balances around their decision making."

All witnesses at the inquest agreed Mrs Aston needed immediate life-saving surgery on arrival at Kettering General Hospital, "yet there was no challenge to the decisions made by the on-call surgeon not to operate".

The coroner said she was "gravely concerned" about the "seeming inadequacies" in Kettering General Hospitals NHS Trust's investigation following Mrs Aston's death.

An incident report should have been raised but Kettering hospital did not look into the care provided to Mrs Aston until the Leicester hospital trust contacted them about the inquest.

Miss Thistlethwaite said the lack of investigation could prevent learning from this case and could jeopardise patient safety across the entire trust.

Deborah Needham, chief executive of Kettering General Hospital, said: "Our sincere condolences are with Mrs Aston's family.

"The Trust takes the concerns raised by the coroner very seriously and will be addressing the issues raised and responding to the coroner by the scheduled date of 1 February 2024."

No fault was found with the treatment Mrs Aston received in Leicester during either the original gastrectomy or the later emergency surgery.

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