A crisis-ridden NHS trust is in the news after one of its surgeons performed an emergency procedure on a patient using a Swiss Army penknife. Presumably, the trust's situation is affecting its ability to provide basic surgical necessities, as the surgeon in question claimed that he could not find a sterile scalpel. It must be said the situation was an emergency, but as the trust comments, the actions of the surgeon were "outside normal procedures and should not have been necessary." Prof Graeme Poston, an expert witness on clinical negligence and a former consultant surgeon, said: “It surprises me and appalls me. Firstly, a penknife is not sterile. Secondly it is not an operating instrument. And thirdly all the kit [must have been] there."
The trust is under investigation by the police for at least 105 separate claims of negligent medical care. These claims range in nature and severity, but some may amount to grievous bodily harm. The most questionable act of alleged negligence occurred when a surgeon—who, for legal reasons, has not been named by the BBC—operating on a patient at the Royal Sussex Hospital in Brighton, used a Swiss Army knife instead of a scalpel. Internal documents say vindicate the first assistant who, feeling the situation was questionable, reported it as such. The patient survived, but his or her body was subjected to "negligent" behavior by the surgeon and his team.
The same investigation carried out by the BBC revealed that the same surgeon was responsible for three low-risk procedures completed over a two-month span that ended with all three patients dying. The patients were not in life-threatening conditions and their surgeries were meant to remediate their ailments with minimal risk involved. And yet, three lives were lost, and the trust that employed the surgeon admitted to the "poor care" the patients received, despite their not being "risky patients." The trust even conceded that had one of the patients not suffered "post-operative complications," that patient would have survived.
The hospital trust responsible for the deaths last week at Worthing Hospital is under pressure from the families of the victims to account for what happened. They want answers and not just platitudes.
University Hospitals Sussex maintains that the decision to transfer the surgeries was made through a "thorough process" and with "oversight from the executive team." The trust took this action in response to what is being called a wider police investigation. A spokesperson for the trust's parent organization, the Department of Health and Social Care, offered these thoughts: ...
The University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust has confirmed that it is fully cooperating with the Sussex Police investigation into the trust's handling of 18 unexpected deaths between 2010 and 2020. In a direct response to the unfolding story, the chief executive of the trust, Dr Findlay said: “I want to reassure all of our patients and staff that in each of the cases outlined in this report, thorough investigations took place, and action was taken whenever necessary to ensure lessons were learnt.
“We were in touch with these families to express our sincere sympathies for their loss.
“If we ever fall short of the standards people have a right to expect, then we are open, honest, and move swiftly to make improvements."
He said the trust faced a number of long-standing challenges, and its teams were working hard to address them.
“I am proud of the progress they have made and they will be supported to make the further improvements we know are necessary,” he added.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c1vw50n04kqo
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