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Grandfather died of pneumonia 36-hours after being sent home from hospital

A grieving widow has blasted a hospital after her husband died from pneumonia 36-hours after being sent home from A&E without a simple blood test that could have saved his life.

Rob Walker, 61, was referred to Sandwell Hospital after he visited his GP complaining of difficulty breathing and a painful cough on November 28, 2017.

But a consultant discharged the dad-of-one without reviewing his blood test results and prescribed antibiotics for a chest infection.

His wife Maggie, 60, said she was told by the doctor it was “lucky he hadn’t suffered a heart attack” and sent him away from a packed ward where patients were waiting in corridors.

Rob Walker, 61, died of pneumonia 36 hours after he was sent home from Sandwell Hospital which a coroner said could have been prevented with a simple blood test. (SWNS)
Rob Walker, 61, died of pneumonia 36 hours after he was sent home from Sandwell Hospital which a coroner said could have been prevented with a simple blood test. (SWNS)

But she was forced to dial 999 the following evening after his condition began to deteriorate and he was readmitted to the hospital in West Bromwich, West Mids.

Mr Walker, of Tipton, West Midlands, was diagnosed with respiratory failure and he died in the early hours of November 30 as a result of pneumonia.

An inquest found the grandfather-of-two died as a result of neglect and the NHS trust which manages the hospital has now admitted liability for his death.

Maggie says she hopes lessons can now be learned from her husband’s death after the “dismissive” consultant failed to properly investigate her husband’s symptoms.

Rob Walker, 61, died of pneumonia 36 hours after he was sent home from Sandwell Hospital which a coroner said could have been prevented with a simple blood test. (SWNS)
Rob Walker, 61, died of pneumonia 36 hours after he was sent home from Sandwell Hospital which a coroner said could have been prevented with a simple blood test. (SWNS)

She said: “The last few days of Rob’s life were terrible.

“He was so unlike himself. He struggled to breathe and could hardly speak. He was usually so fit and healthy.”

“I could not comprehend what was happening when he was readmitted and placed in intensive care.

“To be told to say goodbye to my husband and lose him less than a minute later was a total shock – a day previously I had been told that he just had a chest infection.

“I have been left absolutely devastated by the loss of my husband, best friend and soul mate. Rob was one of life’s good guys. None of our family can believe he has gone.”

Maggie instructed medical negligence lawyers at law firm Irwin Mitchell to investigate the care he received from Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust.

It emerged the consultant who sent Rob home had not reviewed the results of blood tests, which showed he had a severe infection.

Had the results been known, Rob “would have more than likely been admitted”, an internal hospital investigation found.

Medical staff had not seen a letter from the GP referring Rob to hospital which said he potentially had pneumonia or a blood clot in the his lungs.

The Trust has since admitted liability acknowledging that had Rob “received appropriate treatment, he would, on the balance of probabilities, have survived.”

Rob, a maintenance electrician, and Maggie had been together for 47 years and married for 42 years.

An internal investigation found there was no “robust” system in place in A&E for communicating blood tests had been requested or for obtaining and reviewing results in a “timely fashion”.

It added Rob should have been admitted or recalled to hospital once his test results were known.

Black Country Coroner Zafar Siddique wrote to the Trust to raise his concerns and demand a review of the process for blood tests and ensuring referral letters are read.

Lindsay Tomlinson, specialist medical negligence lawyer and partner at Irwin Mitchell, said: “This is a tragic case where the lack of a proper process for reviewing blood results by hospital staff has ended in devastating circumstances.

“Subsequent investigations have found that Rob was badly let down and his death could have been avoided – something that has been incredibly difficult for his family to try to come to terms with.”

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