Mrs N complained that the Trust prematurely discharged her husband, Mr N, in early 2013. He was readmitted to hospital the following day and died nine days later.
What happened
Mr N went into hospital complaining of shortness of breath. He was coughing up large quantities of thin fluids and was confused. Staff treated him for a chronic obstructive airways disease. After he had been treated in hospital for seven days, he was keen to go home and his consultant decided that he was fit to be discharged and requested that a joint physiotherapy and occupational therapist assessment be carried out to establish if he was able to manage at home when he was discharged.
Mr N was discharged from hospital the same evening, but without having this joint assessment carried out. He was readmitted to hospital eight hours later because he was vomiting blood. He died nine days after this.
Mrs N complained that her husband was discharged prematurely because he still had a chesty cough and was very confused. She felt this resulted in his readmission when his condition worsened. Mrs N was seeking an acknowledgement of failings and an apology from the Trust.
What we found
We partly upheld this complaint. Mr N was not prematurely discharged from hospital by the consultant. However, there was a failing because the physiotherapist and the occupational therapist did not assess Mr N before he was discharged. However, we did not consider that this failure contributed to the fact that Mr N was readmitted to hospital some hours later complaining of haematemesis (the vomiting of blood).
West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust
Hertfordshire
Not applicable
Not applicable