Dad should have been coming home from hospital before tragedy struck

North Wales Live

2 days ago

The daughter of a man who died a week after being found collapsed on the floor of a hospital has spoken of her family's trauma. Michelle Montrose said her dad Ken, 73, "should have been coming home" from the Royal Liverpool Hospital after recovering from heart surgery.
But he died of a bleed on the brain a week after he was found collapsed. The father-of-three, from Speke in Merseyside, had a triple bypass operation at Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital in February, following a heart attack.
Following the procedure, due to pre-existing renal failure, he was moved to the Royal Liverpool Hospital for kidney dialysis on the morning of March 13, reports the Liverpool Echo.
Tragically, within six hours of arrival at the hospital, Ken was reportedly found injured on the floor by his bed in the nephrology ward.
Michelle said although her father was discovered in the morning, it was midday before the severity of his condition was realised. Sign up for the North Wales Live newsletter sent twice daily to your inbox
She said: "He had broken ribs and a broken shoulder. They put him back into bed and the doctor never came to see him until 12pm, when they found he had a massive bleed on the head.
"At that point he suffered another cardiac arrest and they had to put him in an induced coma. We weren't called until 1pm and when we got to the hospital he was already in an induced coma.
"He wasn't in his room. No one seemed to know what was happened or what was going on. The ward manager came to talk to me and my brother, and they took us down to resuscitation where he was hooked up to a machine awaiting a second scan to his head."
She said that this crucial second scan was delayed by 30 to 45 minutes as the battery packs for the machine hadn't been charged and one was faulty.
She said: "They got back and said his brain injury was too significant and he wouldn't wake up. He wouldn't survive. He got taken to intensive care where we were told the next 24 hours were critical.
"Not one member of staff came down to explain what had happened and what they were doing."
Tragically, Ken passed away due to a brain bleed on March 21, a week after his hospital admission. Michelle said that over two months later, she's still in the dark about how her father incurred his injuries.
She said: "We don't know whether he fell, if he was dropped. We don't know if something fell on him. My dad couldn't get out of bed on his own. He couldn't walk, he couldn't sit up. He also suffered delirium, so he was often confused due to the medication he was on.
"He was on high dependency care at Broadgreen, and we understood he was going to the Royal to get that same treatment, but that didn't happen.
"When my brother got there to see what had happened, a nurse told him they were short-staffed and they were very busy. But my dad didn't have to go to the Royal that day if they didn't have the staff to look after him. He could've stayed where he was.
"My concern is that this ward is still operating with the same staff, the same equipment, and who is dealing with that? They just got my dad off the floor, cleaned him up and put him back into bed. They just put him back into bed.
"I'm absolutely devastated and angry that this happened. My dad couldn't even sit up by himself. He wasn't able to stand. He was getting hoisted in and out of bed. He was on special mattresses at Broadgreen and the staff had to turn him.
"To suffer such an injury that has basically killed him is devastating for the family, because he should have been recovering. He only went there for kidney dialysis and he should've been coming home.
"I want to make sure this doesn't happen again to anybody else. We're just absolutely traumatised. There's no other words we can say. My dad meant so much to all of us. It's just absolutely heart-breaking."
She said she had made a complaint to the Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS), but had not yet heard back. A hospital spokesman said the incident remained under investigation.
Natalie Hudson, executive managing director at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital, said: "I would like to offer my sincere condolences to Mr Montrose's family.
"We take all safety incidents extremely seriously and a patient safety incident investigation is ongoing to address concerns Mr Montrose's family have raised and we will remain in contact with them throughout this. We are also supporting the coroner with their inquiries ahead of a planned inquest later this year."