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MEDWAY HOSPITAL ON THE CRITICAL LIST
Patients deteriorating out of hours Staff levels ‘unsafe’ Junior doctors out of depth Concerns ignored Poor management of beds Lack of focus on safety
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MEDWAY HOSPITAL ON THE CRITICAL LIST BLAME GAME - 1
Waste fears
Staff’s safety fears pAtiEnt cAsEfiLE 1
Reports by Dan Bloom dbloom@thekmgroup.co.uk
Opponents of an asbestos waste depot have renewed their fight after a fresh application was submitted
PagE 10 rochEStEr
Gas nightmare A pensioner is being hounded for an unpaid £500 gas bill – when he doesn’t even have any supply
PagE 14 chatham
My heroes A woman who suffered a heart attack while going for a routine test has survived to tell the tale
PagE 27 SPort
Cody off mark Cody McDonald marked his return to Gillingham with a goal in the pre-season defeat to Ipswich
PagE 94
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The health secretary told MPs the previous Labour government tried to “shut up” whistleblowers. “The system’s reputation mattered more than patients,” Jeremy Hunt said. ”We owe it to the three million people who use the NHS every week to tackle and confront abuse, incompetence and weak leadership head-on. “In some cases, trust boards were shockingly unaware of problems in their own hospitals.” But shadow health secretary Andy Burnham said current NHS staff cuts were at fault. He said: “You shouldn’t play politics with people’s lives, and you shouldn’t play politics with the NHS on which we all depend.” Rochester and Strood MP Mark Reckless told Mr Hunt just three consultants had been working at Medway A&E – adding that the number had now risen to six and would soon be eight. Gillingham and Rainham MP Rehman Chishti, now a Conservative, said he raised concerns about the hospital when he was a Labour member. “In 2005 and 2006, [it] had the seventh worst mortality rate in the country and nothing was done,” he said. Chatham MP Tracey Crouch urged a quick resolution to the problems, adding: “I’m very disappointed.”
Medway hospital has been placed in special measures amid a vast catalogue of failings. It is one of 11 that will be probed over the next year by chief inspector of hospitals Sir Mike Richards. A review by NHS medical director Sir Bruce Keogh, which probed 14 hospitals with high death rates, slammed Medway’s controlling NHS foundation trust. Health secretary Jeremy Hunt told MPs: “A public consultation [in Medway] heard stories of poor consultation with patients, poor management of deteriorating patients, inappropriate referrals and medical interventions, delayed discharges, and long A&E waiting times.” The report’s damning findings include dangerously low staffing levels caused by cost-cutting, including the removal of 60 beds. “The proposal for additional nursing staff is a good start,” it said. “But a holistic medical staffing review and recruitment strategy needs immediate attention. “In some areas of the trust it was clear that staffing levels and skill mix are potentially unsafe.” Hard-working staff felt unable to raise safety fears and felt ignored when they did speak out, the report said. Staff had low morale and did not communicate properly with each other, sitting in “professional silos” according to their discipline, it claimed. And at board level, executives took their eyes off Medway in their haste to merge with Dartford’s hospital trust to save money. Now the move might never happen. Worst of all, however, was A&E. The wing has been extended and upgraded but it can be improved no more, says the hospital’s medical
Events planner Sarah Poole lodged a formal complaint, claiming she was diagnosed with two conditions she didn’t have. The 33-year-old was driving from a client meeting to her home in Essex Road, Halling, two months ago when she had sudden chest pains. “I was curled up in a ball on the back seat of the car and I could hardly move, I was in so much pain,” she said. She spent an hour and a half waiting just for triage at Medway A&E, she said. According to her account, she was first given the bloodthinning drug heparin due to a suspected clot on the lung, but a week later she was taken off it, told there was no clot and put on indigestion medication instead. Another week went by, she said, and she was taken off that too. Eventually, she was diagnosed with gallstones. She said: “I’ve now discharged myself from Medway and gone to Darent Valley in Dartford. I’ve got no faith in Medway. “It took me a long time to trust Medway because my nan died there on a trolley in the 1990s. “I’m young enough to fight my illnesses but for the very young or the very old who are misdiagnosed, the medication could kill them.” director. Regularly at capacity, the layout was branded “totally unsuitable”, and the report says an urgent temporary unit must be set up. Latest figures show the department’s waiting times are the worst in England. In one week more than a fifth of patients waited more than four hours. The Messenger understands
the hospital is investigating at least one claim with alleged circumstances similar to those of Stewart Fleming, who died in 2008 after an eight-hour wait in A&E. Sir Bruce’s 14-strong panel visited the Gillingham hospital for two days in May, following up with an unannounced visit. The experts, led by Liz Red-
fern, chief nurse for the south of England, grilled the hospital’s directors and met patients, junior doctors, student nurses, individual departments, governors, directors and finance officers. Every criticism in the report led to recommendations for improvement. These include setting up an urgent temporary A&E unit
n LEttErS p22 n thE coDgErS’ cLub p24 n chEmIStS p61 n FamILy aNNouNcEmENtS p62
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for young people A week of workshops exploring a range of dance, drama and music to be held at Aburound House, Woodlands Road, Gillingham ME7 2BX Monday 5th - 9th August 201310.00am - 4.00pm Price: £5 per day • Please bring a packed lunch For more information or to reserve a place, please ring Becky on 01322 425993 or email becky.green@dgsmyourchoice.org.uk These workshops are funded by Children in Need Charity Registration No. 1103190
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MEDWAY HOSPITAL ON THE CRITICAL LIST Patient group seeks greater input
were ignored The Keogh report The main findings at Medway Maritime Hospital Staffing levels so low they are potentially unsafe, “undoubtedly” caused by cost saving programmes including the closure of 60 beds over the last three years. Problems are especially bad at A&E, the High Dependency Unit and Acute Medical Unit. Junior doctors frequently having to make decisions beyond their level of skill, especially in haematology and orthopedics. Junior doctors frequently left in charge of parts of the High Dependency Unit. A quarter of all patients in the HDU die. Despite this being higher than expected, the panel saw no evidence of the hospital carrying out any in-depth review to find out why.
Labour councillors backed hospital staff but blamed government cuts for the problems. Health spokesman Cllr Teresa Murray quoted figures from party headquarters alleging MRSA rates rose from 0.7% per 100,000 in 2010/11 to 2.7% in 2011/12, cancelled operations rose from 210 in 2009/10 to 318 in 2012/13, and staff suffering stress rose from 30% to 41% in three years to 2012.
No clarity on who was in charge of finding the root cause of all deaths despite death rates being consistently high, at 232 more than expected last year. Not enough action taken to prevent very sick patients deteriorating, especially out of hours and on weekends. Poor management of bed occupancy rates throughout the hospital. An A&E department where staff struggle to cope with a “totally unsuitable layout” with “frequent use of escalation wards, overstretched staff and a failure to predictably and systematically manage patients on the correct care pathway, including critical care”. Medway had the third-slowest waiting times in the country between April and June this year. A “lack of clear focus and pace at board and executive level” to improve safety. Board members focused so heavily on a planned merger with Darent Valley Hospital, Dartford, that they put no improvement strategy in place for services and buildings at the Medway site.
password to use an X-ray system. Only this week, a glitch has caused two-week waits for X-ray results across Kent. All these improvements must be monitored by a new project management office, said the report. Many senior staff have been replaced since the Keogh review was announced. They include the directors of nursing, communications and strategy and governance. The current medical director is retiring and his replacement starts next month. The chairman and finance director were also replaced last year.
with the chief officer and trust chairman to agree on how sharing information and scrutiny would work. It added: “The report makes it very clear the best source of intelligence is always from those at the frontline – patients and staff. Patients and staff are everywhere, all the time. Managers and regulators are not. “It is easy for an organisation to say they have ‘engaged’ with the public and tick a box. Healthwatch Medway will ensure the hospital and all partners delivering health and social care serv-
Dan McDonald ices engage meaningfully with residents. “The constant flow of negative stories is damaging. Consumers deserve a full and frank picture of any other existing problems, and need to know what is being done to sort them out.”
blame game – 2
A “large number of committed and concerned staff who frequently reported that they feel unable to raise patient safety concerns and when they do, little or no action is taken.”
with more capacity and agreeing a long-term expansion of the cramped hospital site in Windmill Road. That could be achieved by actually expanding, or by reaching a deal with other services that operate from the site. Some services, like the physiotherapy unit, are already leaving. Urgent action must be taken to improve staffing, consultant cover must be improved at night and on weekends, and there must be a standardised alert system for deteriorating patients. IT systems must also be overhauled. In one case it took a radiologist six months to get a
The new patient group designed to hold the hospital to account, is calling for an urgent meeting with hospital bosses. Medway Healthwatch said: “The trust urgently needs a single, coherent quality strategy and action plan, supplemented by systematic staff training and roll-out.” The statement issued by Dan McDonald, chief executive of Medway CAB, which runs the group, added: “We will encourage the trust to work with [us] in an open and transparent way to ensure the plan for improvement is put in place … Progress … will be monitored on behalf of local residents.” The group demanded talks
PatieNt caSefile 2 Claire Betts complained about how the hospital treated her for kidney stones. Mrs Betts, 43, waited almost four hours at A&E in March 2012. Even though that came within government guidelines, she said the wait was agony. “I had a sudden onset pain, which got worse very quickly,” she claimed. “I projectile vomited all over the waiting room. “They didn’t see me then; they just cleaned up the vomit.”
factfile n Founded: 1902 for Chatham Dockyard personnel n Beds: 542, the most of any Kent hospital n Staff: 3,670 full-time equivalent n Patients: about 400,000 n Run by: Medway NHS Foundation Trust n Chairman: Former accountant Denise Harker n Chief executive: Careerlong manager Mark Devlin
more reports p4, 5 & 6 comment p22
She added: “The effects of the NHS cuts made by this government are shocking. “The staff at Medway Maritime work incredibly hard, but given that there are 142 fewer nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff since 2010, it is unrealistic for us to expect an individual to perform the work of two or more people.” Chatham parliamentary candidate Cllr Tristan Osborne said: “We have seen a botched
NHS re-organisation; A&E waiting lists increasing; privatisation of NHS Direct; and a real concern that the merger with Darent Valley will lead to increased deficits.” Medway’s three Tory MPs wrote in a joint statement: “It is vital Medway Hospital is given the support it needs to take all necessary steps to address these concerns so residents can have trust in [it] providing excellent health services.”
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MEDWAY HOSPITAL ON THE CRITICAL LIST SERIOUS WORRY Dr Smith-Laing slammed the “inappropriate” decision this week to scrap the Liverpool Care Pathway (LCP). It was designed to ensure patients close to death left the world comfortably, and sometimes included denying them food and water. But many hospitals were receiving financial incentives “per patient” to use it - and a review has found it was being used too readily across Britain. A governmentcommissioned report said the LCP should be phased out and per-patient financial incentives should stop. But Dr Smith-Laing said: “Again I think it’s become highly politicised. I think that there’s a serious worry that we will set back the care of the dying patient and I think it’s very superficial to blame a pathway for individual patients where the care or application was inappropriate. “I think it’s been extremely helpful in focusing doctors and nurses on the need to recognise the needs of the dying patient. “Approximately 40 to 45% of patients in this hospital are on some kind of end-of-life pathway - it is because they are dying.”
‘Health service has become a ‘CALL ME SILVIO’
Exclusive by Dan Bloom dbloom@thekmgroup.co.uk Medway Maritime’s medical director admits A&E is “no longer fit for purpose” but defended his staff, instead attacking the “political football” dogging the NHS. Dr Gray Smith-Laing, who has been at the hospital for 29 years, claimed many of the report’s findings were unfair, saying a similar scandal could be uncovered at almost any hospital in Britain. He agreed entirely with the scathing analysis of the A&E department and admitted he was “not sure” what would happen this winter. He said: “The A&E department has had successive upgrades but there is a limit to the degree to which you can grow something within a given area and I think we’ve now reached the limits of that. I think the review board felt quite rightly that the emergency department is no longer fit for purpose. “We’re bedevilled by very, very high attendance levels and difficulties in recruitment.” In the last two weeks Medway’s A&E
OvERCROWdINg New figures show Medway Maritime Hospital is the thirdworst in England for A&E waiting times. Between April and June just 87.2% of patients were seen within four hours - the target is 95%. Only Kettering General Hospital and the University Hospitals of Leicester had a worse record. And in the week ending July 7, just 79.9% of A&E patients were seen within four hours, making Medway the worst in England. In May the Medway Messenger exclusively revealed a letter by a top emergency medicine consultant, Robert Ritchie, warning Medway’s A&E department was “dangerously unsafe” due to overcrowding. He said “Lessons must be learnt as the emergency department cannot cope under such austere and inhuman conditions.”
Dr Gray Smith-Laing, medical director
Hospital chief Mark Devlin once said he would become the financial Berlusconi of Kent if the merger with Dartford failed
waiting times were the worst in England, with more than a fifth of patients waiting more than four hours. “That is a reflection of the pressure that we’re under,” he admitted. “I think you will find that most hospitals in the country are failing at one stage or another but obviously it’s not good that we’ve had a bad one recently. Dr Smith-Laing, who will be the sixth senior director to be replaced in 18 months when he retires, aged 65, this autumn, defended the hospital’s record. Special measures, he said, was “a new term that seems to have been dreamed up... It gives the impression that things were far worse than they actually were.”
He attacked politicians, who initially briefed journalists with misleading figures instead of giving them the full report. He said: “I think the media coverage of this last weekend was very superficial, very illinformed, very emotive and extraordinarily damaging. “I don’t think there’s any question if you watched the minister’s statement that this has become highly politicised and I think it’s very, very unfortunate that the health service has become a political football.” He added: “I think politicians are extraordinarily good at stoking up expectation without being sure that expectation can be fulfilled.” Elsewhere the report is a blow to Medway Maritime’s plans to merge with Dartford’s hospital trust. Hospital chief executive Mark Devlin once said he would become the financial “Berlusconi of Kent” if the move failed. Yet that looks more likely by the day. Dr Smith-Laing admitted the move was on hold indefinitely. He rejected the claim that he and others looked so hard at Dartford, they neglected Medway. “I think most members of the board feel that the report was slightly unfair in that respect,” he said. “We recognised Dartford could prove a distraction and we had a specific team separate to
the board which was dealing with the transaction.” He also said the cost-cutting closure of 60 beds would not have led to poorer care, like the report said. “In fact,” he said, “the hospital works less efficiently when it has too many beds open.” And though he admitted staffing could be “a bit thin on the ground”, junior doctors – who the report said were making decisions beyond their expertise – could always call on a consultant, a fact that was borne out by one comment on the Medway Messenger website. ‘Babs’ stated: “My grandson was taken in feeling very poorly for blood tests. A junior doctor advised us to take him home – but asked us to wait while he checked check with a consultant. “He said ‘no, we will keep him overnight and wait for results of a further test’, only to be bluelighted to Great Ormond Street the next morning with acute myloid leukaemia and immedi-
A law firm which represented more than a dozen patients suing Medway Maritime says improvements must be made. Solicitors Irwin Mitchell gave Sir Bruce examples from the 500 patients they have represented across all 14 hospital trusts. Lisa Jordan, head of the med-
ical law and patients’ rights team, said: “While the vast majority of NHS staff work extremely hard and to a very high standard, too many basic and simple errors are being made by people not following approved guidelines or not paying enough care and attention.”
ately placed in ICU. The little fighter won the battle and you should see him now.” Some things are changing, said Dr Smith-Laing. The report suggests a huge number of changes which the directors are studying. The hospital has started reviewing every death though staff will not delve into past cases. The regulator Monitor has also changed its tune, with Dr SmithLaing saying: “Certainly until [the] Francis [report into deaths at Stafford Hospital] I think our conversations with Monitor have been almost exclusively about finance with very little mention of quality.” He added: “I think we’ve been betrayed by our medical statistics. The mortality data are very complex... Crude mortality has fallen year-on-year for the last 10 years and fallen faster than the national fall. “Do I think I’m leaving on a note of failure? No I don’t. In some ways I’m actually very optimistic because there’s been a lot of change which we have been effecting for the last three years and this review has added a lot of extra impetus to that. “I think what will emerge is a stronger hospital.”
amongst other things. “We then moved to Lordswood and had our second child at Medway. The staff were fantastic and looked after me well. “I had another epidural which I was worried about. However the anaesthetist did a grand job and even came to see me the following morning to check I was ok and how the baby was. “My other half recently
went in for an op and the timescale between going to the doctors and getting the op appointment was minimal. “He was out the same day with follow-up calls afterwards to check he was okay. “My youngest was also whipped in after a meningitis scare and the paediatricians were, again, great! “Although it is not nice waiting in the waiting room, the staff do the best they can.”
FACTFILE In the past three months 22,628 people attended Medway A&E, 249 per day. Yet that attendance figure was smaller than for the NHS trusts in Dartford and Gravesham, Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells or East Kent.
Too many basic errors
PATIENT CASEFILE 3 Marketing assistant Laura Berbank, from Lordswood, said her whole family had nothing but good words for Medway Maritime. The mum-of-two said: “When I had my first child at Maidstone Hospital I had a very bad experience which resulted in an emergency caesarean. I had six months of physiotherapy after the birth due to the epidural being administered incorrectly
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MEDWAY HOSPITAL ON THE CRITICAL LIST
political football’ PATIENT CASEFILE 4
Front pages – how hospital makes the news n December 2008: Dad Stewart Fleming dies after an eight-hour wait in A&E n February 2012: Consultants sent to ski resort conference instead of same event in London n March 2012: “Success coach” paid £120,000 for workshops as 70 staff are made redundant
Hannah Farrell had a bad experience at Medway Maritime Hospital when she gave birth to her son Noah, also pictured Mum-of-two Hannah Farrell said fears she would haemorrhage while having her second child were dismissed. That was despite the 26-year-old losing two-thirds of her blood and almost dying when she gave birth to her first child Ava. The resident of West Street, Gillingham, said: “My son’s head had crowned but the midwife refused to believe me because she said I was only 3cm dilated. “I had to lie on the hospital
bed crossing my legs to hold my baby in. I still had my trousers on at this point and the midwife wouldn’t even take a look. Moments later my waters exploded and my son came out.” Only then, she said, did they check her notes - and seconds later she started losing blood. Staff worked quickly and she survived. Healthy baby Noah is now 22 months old. “I met some midwives and staff who were amazingly kind
and caring,” she said. “But in a time when you are vulnerable, scared and in pain, you do not need someone who is in a position of care to put you in danger because they are having a bad day. “I appreciate they are understaffed, but as professionals they should not let that stress affect the care they give to their patients. “ I will never get over my experience, and I’m sure there are others who are the same.”
Trust’s action plan backed by family GPs Dr Peter Green, heads of the Medway Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) which buys in services for GPs, said: “The existing systems of regulation have not produced the changes that are now clearly seen as necessary. “In respect of mortality comparisons this was not a lack of knowledge, but a lack of action. “We are very pleased that the review has been carried out and that the views of so many people including staff and patients have been heard. “Medway Hospital is part of
Medway. Most of the staff at the hospital will live in Medway. Most of the staff will have friends and family in Medway. “I don’t believe the staff at Medway Hospital are uncaring or want to do anything other than provide the best care they possibly can. “Healthcare is complicated and we should always strive to make it better. You see people born and you see people die, you share the emotion, the happiness and the sadness. “We fully support Medway
NHS Foundation Trust’s action plan and note that as part of the special measures announced today that they will receive external support. “The politicians and the media will dissect the reasons why we’ve arrived at this point. “Our role as a CCG and community is to be clear what we expect and want and to be supportive of Medway NHS Foundation Trust. “We must use this opportunity for good and not be part of a bandwagon of blame.”
nhs PAYOUT AFTER MUM TRAGEDY p6
n October 2012: Hospital admits it can’t stop patients smoking despite ban n January 2013: Court finds decorator Danny Jewitt fell from a window which wasn’t repaired n May 2013: Leaked letter from top doctor says A&E patients are in danger
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NHS IN THE SPOTLIGHT MEDWAY MARITIME IN CRISIS: THE REACTION PATIENT CASEFILE 5 Doctors wrongly said Sarah Smith’s first baby was a miscarriage and that her second baby didn’t exist, she claimed. Now 23 and living in Stonecross Lea, Chatham, she said the maternity unit was “fab, attentive and respectful” but problems came earlier in her pregnancy. Medics said Mrs Smith was miscarrying, she said, only to correct themselves days later. Her healthy daughter Amelia is now three. “If I was someone different I could have gone and killed myself,” she said. “I could have taken drugs, I could have got drunk to deal with that, and I could have killed my child.” She said she experienced similar problems with her second child, Rohan, now six months old. She claimed: “[First they] told me I was miscarrying... Then the man told me I wasn’t pregnant at all. “I complained and demanded another blood test. Eventually, they gave me another test, and I was told I was pregnant. “It didn’t help that I had three miscarriages before having my daughter and another two before having my son.” Mrs Smith never made formal complaints. She said: “When I found out my daughter was OK I was over the moon and that was my only thought at the time.”
There was strong reaction to the news that Medway Maritime was one of 11 hospitals being put into ‘special measures’ following the Keogh report. The same themes emerged on our website and Facebook page, with readers strongly defending hard-working junior staff, saying they were fighting understaffing and poor management.
M. Bernard: Medway Hospital has problems, but it is not all bad. There are many caring and dedicated staff working there, and numbers need to increase. I have been involved with Medway over what were horrendous standards of care for patients suffering from dementia for four years now. It has taken a lot of persistence, time and effort, but big strides are being made.
Brian C Smith: Something needs to be sorted urgently at Medway Maritime. My elderly father suffered at their hands in 2008. He was looked at by a locum doctor in A&E, sent home with cellulitis in his leg, and died 12 hours later from septicaemia. We took the case to a solicitor and won, but never had an apology from people concerned. MedwayCitizen: This disgraceful state of affairs cannot be blamed on the farce that was Labour, they haven’t been in government for years. So, Rehman Chishti won’t get involved it this; he would have to criticise the government. The NHS has become a corrupt cesspit. Managers who can’t manage, lower level staff who have no pride in their work, and
a few who keep it working as well as it does.
Thetruthhurts2011: When I started in the health service, each ward had a decent supply of qualified nurses backed with a fair number of students. Now you have very few staff backed by healthcare assistants. The solution of filling vacancies with overseas agency staff is dangerous. I have seen African and eastern European staff struggle to understand each other over the most basic care. The government desperately wants an excuse to close hospitals down. Politicians can afford the best private healthcare. Can you?
HylandGirl: I have nothing but praise for the microbiologists, A&E, the special care and critical care units who saved my life in 2009 with double pneumonia, and whom I found extremely attentive, caring and hard working. This is more about government cuts than ineptitude and negligence.
Babs: My grandson was taken in feeling very poorly for blood tests. A junior doctor advised there was nothing wrong and to take him home - but to wait while he checked with a senior consultant, who said ‘no, we will keep him overnight and wait for results of a further test’. [He was] blue-lighted to Great Ormond Street the next morning with acute myeloid leukaemia and immediately placed in ICU on Chemotherapy. The little fighter won the battle and you should see him now!
Neighbouring trust in death payout
Young mother died after misdiagnosis Former Medway woman sent home
When young mum Rebecca BenNejma started suffering pains in her abdomen just days into her pregnancy, she was rushed to A&E. Doctors suspected an ectopic pregnancy, a potentially fatal condition in which the embryo implants outside the womb. But it was a Friday afternoon and, instead of having the scan she urgently needed, Rebecca was sent home with painkillers and told to come back on Monday morning.
Cardiac arrest Two days later Rebecca, 28, collapsed. An ambulance was called, but she suffered a heart attack before she got to Maidstone Hospital. While having an emergency operation to remove the ruptured ectopic pregnancy, she had a cardiac arrest. The former Walderslade School for Girls pupil was kept on a lifesupport machine, but her family had to make the heartbreaking decision to turn it off when tests revealed she was brain dead. Now Maidstone and Tunbridge
Patient casefile 6: Midwives ‘fantastic’ Rachel Gardner, 28, claims she was overdosed on an epidural seven weeks ago while giving birth to her first child, Adelaide. She and her husband Tom, 26, said an anaesthetist injected two full syringes while uttering the words: “I wish I was still on holiday”.
Mr Gardner, of Saxton Street, Gillingham, said: “My wife suffered a massive drop in blood pressure and fell unconscious. Only the quick thinking of the midwife and the on-call doctor putting her on to a drip to counteract the effects saved her life.” Mrs Gardner was encouraged
to speak after her sister, Hannah Farrell, featured on pages 4 and 5, told her story. The couple added that the midwives were “fantastic”, and that another anaesthetist who treated them could not be faulted.
Rebecca with husband Walid
Rebecca Ben-Nejma with son Bailey Wells NHS Trust has admitted Rebecca was misdiagnosed. Last week the trust settled a compensation claim from her family. Medical director Dr Paul Sigston said: “The trust sincerely and unreservedly apologises for the failings that contributed to the death of Mrs Ben-Nejma, fol-
lowing the misdiagnosis of her condition at Maidstone Hospital in 2010. “In order to ensure that such failings do not happen again, the trust has introduced a range of measures, including strengthening the emergency gynaecology service, which is now centralised at Tunbridge Wells Hospital. “As a result, patients now have better access to senior staff, diagnostic equipment and treatment of emergency situations.” At the time of her death, Rebecca was living in Wheeler Street, Maidstone, with husband Walid and their two children, Charlotte and Bailey. Her mum, Marion Mitchell, from Rochester, said in 2011: “We’ll always remember her and make sure we talk about her. She was an outgoing, bubbly person, and she was a good mum to Charlotte and Bailey.”