Wife of Dudley man who died after contracting sepsis welcomes coroner's verdict of neglect

Hayley Smith said her husband Simon was "very much neglected" by Russells Hall Hospital when he was admitted there in 2018.

The coroner for the Black Country, Zafar Siddique, recorded a short narrative conclusion into the death of Mr Smith earlier this week – adding that his death was "avoidable and contributed in part by neglect".

Speaking to the Express & Star following the conclusion of the inquest into her husband's death, Mrs Smith said: "I was very pleased with the outcome with the verdict of contributing neglect – because Simon was very much neglected.

"The evidence at the inquest showed clear failings in every aspect of his care.

"I made a promise to Simon that the hospital would not get away this. He knew how determined I was.

"The hospital will be carrying out further investigations at our request regarding Simon's final admission where yet again opportunities were missed to administer antibiotics in a timely manner."

She added: "If all of the systems were followed correctly Simon would still be here.

"My family and I still can't believe it all and don't think we ever will."

Sepsis

In a statement, Diane Wake, the chief executive of the Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Russells Hall Hospital, apologised to Mr Smith's family – adding that they accept the findings and conclusion of the inquest.

She added: "We have made significant improvements and positive outcomes from bone infection are now higher than the national average. We are not complacent and remain committed to do the very best for our patients."

An inquest had heard that Mr Smith, 51, went to Dudley’s Russells Hall Hospital in July 2018 after suffering severe pain in his leg. He had begun to show signs of sepsis, including a high temperature and raised heart rate.

But staff failed to give him antibiotics to treat the condition until days later and he went into multi-organ failure.

He was eventually diagnosed with a rare infection in the thigh bone, which triggered sepsis.

Mr Smith, of Bullfinch Close, Russells Hall, in Dudley, spent 11 weeks in intensive care and was discharged, but weeks later returned to hospital as he had not made a full recovery. He died from sepsis on November 1.

In his verdict, Mr Siddique said: "Simon Smith was a 51-year-old man who died due to complications of sepsis.

"His death was avoidable and contributed in part by neglect. There were identifiable failures made after a failure to recognise his clinical condition and he had developed an infection.

"Failure to recognise how ill he was and failure to appropriately prescribe antibiotics led to his death."