King's Lynn's Queen Elizabeth Hospital NHS Trust to be setenced at Chelmsford Magistrates' Court over death of Lucas Allard
Lynn's Queen Elizabeth Hospital NHS Trust is set to be sentenced after pleading guilty to exposing a patient to avoidable harm before he died.
Representatives from the QEH Trust will appear at Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court tomorrow (Thursday) following prosecution from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) over the death of 28-year-old Lucas Allard.
He died in March 2019 with a ruptured aortic aneurysm as a result of Marfan syndrome.
The Lynn man - who had a complex medical history and was awaiting heart surgery - was admitted to hospital on March 12, 2019 with chest pain.
He was given a CT scan, but he was later discharged after staff analysed the wrong results and determined him fit to go home.
A review by a consultant two days later found the wrong report had been viewed, and the correct one highlighted significant abnormalities - leading to him being urgently summoned back to the QEH.
Shortly after his arrival, Mr Allard suffered a cardiac arrest. Although staff attempted resuscitation, the cardiac arrest caused his death.
The trust admitted to mistakes which meant he did not receive safe care and treatment, exposing him to "avoidable harm".
Regulated health and social care providers have a legal duty to ensure their patients receive safe care and treatment, with risks to their health and wellbeing being appropriately managed.
The trust admitted it had not ensured safe care and treatment due to its lack of adequate processes and systems to ensure staff reviewed correct scans, and to ensure scans showing abnormalities were appropriately escalated.
This constituted breaches of regulations 12 and 22 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014.
Regulation 12 relates to healthcare providers’ responsibility to ensure people receive safe care and treatment. Regulation 22 made it a criminal offence to not comply with regulation 12.
The trust will be sentenced by magistrates in a hearing which begins at 10am tomorrow.
