Woman died at New Cross Hospital after ward oxygen error
Hospital staff failed to ensure an elderly patient had an adequate supply of oxygen before she died, an inquest heard.
Hilda Seagrave, who was 74, was dependent on constant oxygen having suffered with a clotting disorder affecting her lungs.
But after being admitted to New Cross Hospital having fallen at her Wolverhampton home, staff failed to monitor her oxygen levels.
A three-day inquest at Smethwick Council House ended with Coroner Zafar Siddique concluding this had played a part in the cardio-respiratory arrest which resulted in her death.
He said failings in Hilda's treatment at the hospital, taken as a whole, were 'contributed to by neglect'.
Hilda fell in June 2011 and was rushed to New Cross where she died the next day. The inquest heard on being admitted she was given an oxygen cylinder as there was no piped supply available.
Independent consultant Dr Simon Bourne told the inquest Hilda's oxygen levels had dropped to 79 per cent from 94 per cent before she died.
Dr Kenneth Scott, an independent pathologist, said the lack of oxygen in her system had 'brought forward' her cardio-respiratory arrest – citing a spinal cord injury and her clotting disorder as other factors.
Giving a narrative verdict, Coroner Siddique, said: "On the balance of probability the oxygen cylinder had become depleted around 6am on the 26th of June, 2011, and there were failures in monitoring the oxygen levels. There were inadequate systems in place to monitor and escalate the findings of deterioration in the patient. Collectively taken together as a whole these failures were contributed to by neglect."
Hilda's daughter Sue said the supply of oxygen and staffing at the hospital had both been 'big problems' and Hilda's death could have been avoided.
Dr Jonathan Odum, Medical Director at the Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust, said the trust accepted the coroner's findings and offered its sincere condolences.
