Ysbyty Gwynedd consultant bound by diagnosis - inquest told

Nesta Jones died more than a month after being admitted to hospital

A hospital consultant was "duty bound" to rely on the conclusion of specialists that a patient's knee was not infected, an inquest has heard.

Nesta Jones, 77, died in Ysbyty Gwynedd in Bangor, Gwynedd, after developing pneumonia shortly after the infection was confirmed.

Consultant Mahdi Jibani told the hearing in Caernarfon he suspected infection.

But several orthopaedic doctors all said she did not have septic arthritis.

Mrs Jones, a retired teacher from Valley, Anglesey, had a knee replacement in 2015, due to rheumatoid arthritis.

Her family told the hearing they believe multiple opportunities were missed to diagnose the source of the infection.

Mrs Jones was taken to Ysbyty Gwynedd in Bangor by ambulance on 31 March 2017 after being found seriously ill at home by her family GP.

Mr Jibani told the inquest he had been in charge of her care when she was first admitted to the hospital's Hebog ward.

He told the coroner that tests showed she had a bacterial infection caused by the staphylococcus aureus bug, and he initially suspected the knee as the prime candidate for the location.

He put Mrs Jones on antibiotics to treat it, and referred her case to the orthopaedic team.

"Multiple other doctors suspected septic arthritis, but none of these are experts in that field," Mr Jibani said.

'Acute kidney injury'

"But others who are, including orthopaedic surgeons, gave us the opinion that it was not septic arthritis, and I am duty bound to respect that opinion."

Mrs Jones finally underwent a procedure on 3 May to draw fluid from her knee, which had a prosthetic replacement joint.

Surgeons discovered pus in the knee, and consultant Mr Jibani told the inquest that it confirmed the presence of septic arthritis.

Following the procedure to examine the knee, Mrs Jones developed pneumonia and her condition rapidly deteriorated.

She died in May 2017, a month after being admitted to hospital

Questioned by the legal team for the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board, Mr Jibani described Mrs Jones as a patient with complex health conditions, including heart disease and an acute kidney injury.

"Looking back, it was never on the cards that she would recover," he told the hearing.

The inquest is continuing.