ANOTHER WEEK, ANOTHER NHS NIGHTMARE

LONDON TIMES: South Wales NHS chiefs told to apologise in person for fatal blunder

The heads of an NHS trust were told to apologise in person to the parents of a cancer patient who bled to death after a breathing tube was inserted incorrectly in his neck. The Public Services Ombudsman for Wales, Peter Tyndall, criticised the Cwm Taf NHS Trust severely, saying that the actions of its staff “directly resulted” in the premature death of Myron Hall, a 47-year-old electrician.

Mr Hall’s parents called for the police to investigate whether the trust, in South Wales, or any individuals should face criminal charges.

Mr Hall was referred to the former North Glamorgan NHS Trust in September 2006 by his GP because of a suspicious lump in his neck.

It took three months to diagnose a malignant tumour and doctors decided the best way to treat him was to remove half his tongue.

A tracheostomy tube was put in his windpipe to help him to breathe, but surgeons stopped the operation when they found that the tumour had spread too far.

Mr Hall later began bleeding from a replacement tube that was inserted in the wrong place while he waited to be transferred to a specialist cancer centre for chemotherapy.

The wound was stitched when it was noticed the tube was not in the right place, but four days after returning to the ward Mr Hall suffered a “catastrophic bleed” caused by the tube wearing through the wall of an artery.

He died despite the efforts of staff at the Royal Glamorgan Hospital, in Llantrisant, to resuscitate him.

• THIS IS TYPICAL IN THE NHS AND NATIONALIZED HEALTHCARE: DELAYS IN DIAGNOSIS, AND THEN CRAPPY CARE.
• THIS IS WHAT OBAMACARE WILL BE LIKE.
• DISSENT ACCORDINGLY.