Last Monday, Channel 4 broadcast a particularly hard-hitting episode of its ‘Dispatches’ series, in which numerous NHS patients who have been affected by life-changing medical failures over the last few years shared their stories. One of those patients who featured in the documentary was my former client Jenny Feasey, who told the story of her son Toby.

Toby died whilst he was still in the womb as a result of appalling failures at the previously scandal hit Morecambe Bay hospital trust. His death occurred because Jenny’s midwife failed to order a simple test after she showed signs of being at risk of developing an incredibly dangerous pregnancy condition called ‘pre-eclampsia’. As a result of the test not taking place, Jenny’s pregnancy continued as normal. She went on to develop pre-eclampsia which resulted in horrendous, and completely avoidable, mental and physical consequences for Toby, Jenny, and Toby’s dad Daniel. If the test had been carried out, Jenny would have given birth to Toby before he came to harm.

The failures that cause stillbirths are often basic yet crop up time and time again. The documentary rightly questioned why they keep happening, and what it will take for healthcare professionals to learn from these devastating mistakes.

Lack of scanners and staff

Another area of focus was the inadequate number of MRI and CT scanners that we have in the NHS. The unavailability of scanning equipment and the effect that this has on a person’s ability to access appropriate and timely care is something that we see regularly within the clinical negligence team here at JMW. It is particularly an issue in cases involving cancer and Cauda Equina Syndrome (‘CES’).

CES is a type of spinal cord injury that, if suspected, can only be confirmed and therefore treated following an MRI scan. It is a time sensitive condition which means that the longer the delay in diagnosis and treatment, the worse the outcome. Here in the UK we have fewer scanners per proportion of the population than other countries with a similar socio-economic status, which leads one to question why we aren’t giving healthcare the level of investment that it so clearly needs.

In addition to a shortage of vital equipment, the NHS is also suffering from a shortage of staff. There are currently 40,000 nursing vacancies across the organisation. Staff shortages have far reaching consequences, but predominantly mean that people have to wait longer for outpatient appointments, and those who are being treated in hospital don’t always receive the level of attention that they need. Staff end up being spread out between patients, and this can lead to dangerous mistakes being made.

I have acted for numerous individuals where, for example, a loved one has declined and sadly died as a result of a lack of regular observations. I also regularly act on behalf of patients with dementia who have suffered unwitnessed falls and broken their hips because staff members have been too busy with other patients. A colleague in our team also recently represented the parents of a baby who died very shortly after his birth due to delays in delivering him as a result of a severe shortage of midwives on the delivery ward.

Never events 

Dispatches also spoke to adults who have been left severely disabled due to appalling surgical errors, and this is again something our team deals with on a regular basis. Whilst all surgical procedures carry a risk of inadvertent harm, and doctors are required to discuss those risks with the patient before obtaining their consent to proceed, there are some harms that are classed as ‘never events’. 

One of those interviewed for the programme whose life was destroyed by a ‘never event’ was Lucy Wilson, a 34-year-old woman who underwent what should have been a simple procedure to remove her gallbladder. However, for some unbeknown reason, her operating surgeon removed and caused unthinkable damage to other completely unrelated parts of her anatomy. When asked to describe her quality of life, Lucy stated: “sitting in a chair at home, waiting to die”.

‘Never events’ are called such because they are so serious and incomprehensible that they should, quite simply, never happen. However, the fact that they do intimates that there is either inadequate training or oversight of the clinician involved, or that policies and procedures which exist with the purpose of safeguarding patients simply don’t work.

These are just some of the issues within the NHS which have the very real potential to affect every single one of us as at some point as either we, or someone that we love, put our lives into its hands.