Covid: Daughter's anger over details of mum's hospital death

Suzanne Hughes (r) wants answers over the death of her mother Violet

A woman whose mother died with Covid says a lack of basic information about her death has left her feeling "numb" and finding it difficult to grieve.

Violet Hughes died at Prince Charles Hospital, Merthyr Tydfil, in September.

The 82-year-old's daughter Suzanne said she had been unable to find out if she was alone when she died, details of her treatment and her time of death.

Cwm Taf Morgannwg health board said it was "committed to learning lessons" from concerns raised by families.

Suzanne, from Merthyr, said she wanted a Covid public inquiry to look into the way hospitals communicated with affected families.

Her mother suffered from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and kidney failure, and had been in hospital with similar symptoms before.

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The following day the hospital called Suzanne to say a do-not-resuscitate (DNR) notice had been put in place for her mother.

Violet Hughes died at Prince Charles Hospital, Merthyr Tydfil, in September

However, she was also told it was believed her mother could recover so an end-of-life plan was not being activated, meaning under Covid regulations Ms Hughes could not visit.

She called the hospital throughout the day and was told her mum was "fine" and sitting up in bed.

When she called at about 17:20 BST, she was told Violet had tested positive for Covid-19 but was OK and being given oxygen.

Then about 90 minutes later, Suzanne was called by the hospital and told to come in as her mum had deteriorated.

The health board said it was committed to learning lessons

By the time she arrived a short time later, her mother had died.

"My mum was cold, had no colour," said Suzanne.

"I asked what time my mother had passed away, she [a member of staff] was unable to give me that info.

"She told me the nurse that was in charge of my mother had left to go home.

"So I said surely there was some handover in regards to the information about my mother and she said, 'oh I don't know anything about it, I've just come on to the ward'."

A time of death has still not been given, nor have details about Violet's final hours as her medical notes are blank from 14:00 onwards - other than an entry stating that Suzanne had been informed of the positive Covid test.

Suzanne said not being able to get information, such as whether any treatment for coronavirus was given, was "awful".

She added: "I just wanted to know certain answers to questions and it felt as if I was being forgotten.

"I didn't feel there was any dignity. There was no respect given to us as a family, nor to my mother.

"That's quite hard, that's difficult to accept.

"I just dwell on the facts. I don't know when she died, how she died and was anyone with her. I don't know anything.

"The impact is so emotional. Was my mum alone, was somebody with her? It's playing on our minds.

"I'm just thinking if they'd provided a Covid treatment maybe she would have had more time to spend with her family.

"Would she have been here today?"

Greg Dix, director of nursing and patient care at Cwm Taf Morgannwg health board said: "While we are unable to comment on the circumstances of individual cases, losing a loved one is devastating for any family and our thoughts and sympathies are with them.

"We take the quality of care and treatment provided to our patients extremely seriously and apologise to anyone who feels let down by our health board or where the level of care has fallen short.

"We remain committed to learning lessons from the pandemic as well as the experiences of any patients or families who raise concerns with us so we can continually work to improve our standards of care."

• Catch the full story on BBC Wales Live on BBC One Wales on Wednesday at 22:35 or catch up afterwards on BBC iPlayer.