A&E staff failed to diagnose injuries
A father who died from head injuries could have survived if medical staff at Dudley's Russells Hall Hospital had diagnosed and treated his injuries sooner, an inquest heard.
Plasterer Simon Williams, aged 22, of Wolverhampton, was found slumped in the street outside JB's nightclub, Dudley, in 2006. He had been to an Elvis tribute night at the venue. He died in Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham.
Black Country coroner Robin Balmain recorded a narrative verdict at yesterday's hearing in Smethwick. Mr Balmain said injuries sustained by Mr Williams were not promptly diagnosed by doctors and nurses at the Accident & Emergency department at Russells Hall where the patient had been taken initially.
The inquest heard from witnesses that Mr Williams had been taken into hospital at 3.30pm after allegedly been struck outside the club by Adam Tibbetts, of Stourbridge. Staff assessed him before putting on observation rounds by nurses, staff nurse Debbie Wildman told yesterday's hearing. "The A&E department was heaving with people. There was lot of police, and it was chaotic," she said.
She said ambulance paramedics had diagnosed Mr Williams's response level on the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) as four. GCS is a neurological scale which records the conscious state of a person for assessment. It runs from one to 15, with 15 being the most responsive.
Mr Munchi Choksey, director of neurosurgery at the University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire, said Mr Williams should have been a priority for staff.
He said National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidelines say patients with a GCS less than 13 on initial assessment in the emergency department should receive a CT scan to help assess further treatment needed.
But Mr Williams, of Needwood Drive, Lanesfield, did not receive the scan until 11.02am – more than seven hours after being taken to the hospital. "The level of management was bizarre and was like it was in the 80s," Mr Choksey said.
Mr Balmain said: "The man would have survived if this prompt action had been taken."
Pathologist Dr Kenneth Shorrock told the inquest the medical cause of death was severe closed head injury. The court heard Mr Williams had suffered a fatal blood clot in the left hand side of his head which was found on the CT scan.
