Inquest opens into hospital death

An inquest has opened in Belfast into the death of a woman whose bowel was perforated during hospital treatment.

It was told Geraldine Aynesley had a condition making that more likely to happen during a colonoscopy, although the risk was still small.

The deputy coroner of Belfast asked witnesses whether delays in giving Mrs Aynesley an operation to repair the damage contributed to her death.

The initial procedure took place at Ards Hospital.

The next day Mrs Aynesley, 68, from Colinbrook Crescent in Belfast, complained of pain and her husband took her to Belfast City Hospital.

After tests, doctors there decided she needed surgery.

Mrs Aynesley was taken to the Ulster Hospital as doctors at the City believed it would be better to have the surgery performed by the same team who carried out the colonoscopy.

A consultant from the City refuted a suggestion from a junior doctor that she was moved because there were not enough beds or theatre time available in the hospital.

An expert witness called by the coroner's office said Mrs Aynesley might be alive today if not for a series of short delays from the time she first complained of pain until her subsequent surgery.

But he said no single delay could be blamed for her death.

Mrs Aynesley died in intensive care in the middle of January this year.