Hospital faces second death claim

An inquiry at Walsgrave Hospital has been launched.

An inquiry is under way at a hospital after new claims that a second patient's death was caused by cramming too many beds into a ward.

It comes after allegations that a patient at Walsgrave Hospital in Coventry may have died as a result of putting five beds into bays designed for four.

The University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust has launched a review of the five-bed practice.

Chief Executive of the trust David Roberts said: "The review will look in detail at any patients who died in hospital during the 18 months the five-bed practice was in place."

He added: "The extra beds were put into the bays as a way of coping with the high level of emergency admissions coming into the hospital.

"The practice ceased in August 2001."

Critical report

The name of the patient who died has not been released and the investigation will be carried out by doctors who were not at the hospital at the time.

They will review case notes to see if the conditions had any effect on patient deaths.

A similar accusation was made about another patient two years ago.

At that time the trust was criticised for overcrowding ward bays in a report by the Commission for Health Improvement.

An inquiry by the trust found that overcrowding was not responsible for that patient's death.

Cardiologist Dr Raj Mattu raised concerns that two patients died because of the practice.

He was suspended from the hospital in February 2002 after allegations of bullying were made against him.