Specialist cancer care may have helped with pain

What happened

Mrs W was in her late forties when she was diagnosed with a large bladder cancer. She went into hospital in winter 2013 for invasive treatment to enable her to have chemotherapy. The chemotherapy would shrink the cancer so that doctors could remove it. Mrs W had the treatment but became more unwell, and did not go on to have the chemotherapy and surgery. She died just over two weeks later.

Miss J, her daughter, complained to the Trust about her mother's treatment. She said that hospital staff should have known Mrs W was dying and given her palliative care. She said that if her mother had known that the invasive treatment was not going to help cure her, she would not have wanted to go through with it. Miss J also said that staff did not give her mother enough pain relief for the cancer, particularly towards the end of her life.

Miss J said that failings in Mrs W's care meant that she died in an undignified way, which caused the family a lot of distress.

The Trust acknowledged some failings in Mrs W's care but said that overall it believed her care was appropriate. Miss W was unhappy with this, and so she came to us.

What we found

Although Mrs W was seriously ill when she went into hospital, it was not clear that she was dying. The Trust's plan to treat her was appropriate, but it should have arranged for specialist cancer services to be involved in her care. Those services could have helped Mrs W and her family understand and cope with what was happening. Also Mrs W's pain relief fell below an adequate standard.

The Trust has since taken action to improve the care it gives patients like Mrs W who are seriously ill and may not recover.

Putting it right

The Trust apologised to Miss W and acknowledged that Mrs W's care fell below an acceptable standard. It paid Miss J £250 in recognition of her distress at seeing her mother in avoidable pain.