Hospital criticised over death

The hospital trust spokesman said lessons had been learnt

A hospital in Crewe has been criticised over mistakes made during an operation which led to the death of a patient.

The Health Service Ombudsman, Ann Abraham, upheld a complaint against Leighton Hospital by the family of a man who has not been named.

The man suffered from Parkinson's disease and could not speak.

He was admitted to the hospital because of problems he had eating but the next day he died.

Internal bleeding

Doctors had put a feeding tube into his bowel, using a local anaesthetic, but the surgeon put it in the wrong place, and the man developed internal bleeding and peritonitis.

The Health Service Ombudsman criticised the Mid Cheshire NHS Trust which runs the hospital.

The ombudsman found doctors had broken General Medical Council guidelines on communicating with the patient and said the risks were not explained properly.

She also said the wrong type of anaesthetic was used and the operation was performed in such a way that death was inevitable.

Lessons learnt

The Chief Executive of the Mid Cheshire Hospital Trust Simon Yates said lessons had been learnt.

"What we have to do is make sure that whenever mistakes are made we can learn from them," he said.

"We should not drive mistakes underground by always go out looking for somebody's head.

"We are continually trying to set up systems where clinical staff are open if things go wrong."