Wales NHS: Family's lives 'destroyed by death of UHW patient'

The report says the patient's clinical history and new symptoms were not adequately assessed

The family of a patient who died after treatment at Wales' biggest hospital say their lives have been "destroyed".

The man died days after emergency surgery at the University Hospital of Wales (UHW) in Cardiff, for an obstructed hernia.

A report by public services ombudsman Michelle Morris said the care he received amounted to a "significant service failure".

Cardiff and Vale University Health Board "apologised unreservedly".

In the complaint, his daughter said they still had no answers.

The ombudsman wrote: "I have no doubt that the findings of this report will be a source of great distress to her and her family".

The patient - whose identity has not been made public - went to the hospital's Emergency Department with symptoms of obstructed hernia and bowel obstruction. He was discharged after being assessed.

Two days later, he was admitted to the hospital but died a few days after he had emergency surgery.

'Not promptly diagnosed'

The ombudsman launched an investigation after the patient's daughter complained about the care he received.

The ombudsman report found that when the patient was first admitted, the health board failed to adequately assess his clinical history and new symptoms, which suggested that he had acute obstructed hernia.

It also revealed that when the patient was admitted to hospital two days later, his condition was not promptly diagnosed which led to a delay in him getting emergency surgery.

Following the surgery, the patient was not moved to the Intensive Care Unit despite being very unwell.

The report found that had these failings not occurred, the outcome may have been different.

'Improvement plan'

The patient was admitted to hospital at the beginning of the Covid pandemic and the report took the impact of this on the health board into account.

However, the ombudsman concluded that the care that the patient received amounted to a "significant service failure".

Suzanne Rankin, chief executive of Cardiff and Vale University Health Board said: "I would like to apologise unreservedly for the failings in the care of [the patient] and the distress this has caused for his family.

"We are implementing the recommendations from the ombudsman and an improvement plan has been developed to monitor the implementation of all recommendations within the timescale.

"We would welcome the opportunity to meet with the family... to discuss the report and recommendations in more detail."