Hospital wrote dad off as an addict and failed to provide emergency care

A widow is calling for better care for people with alcohol issues after the Royal Oldham Hospital failed to treat her husband’s massive internal bleeding and wrongly put his symptoms down to alcohol withdrawal.

Elaine Lloyd says her husband Neil’s drinking escalated from an evening tipple to unwind, to consuming large quantities most nights, but he was still a loving husband and was always a good dad to their young children, Owen and Holly.

However, Elaine, 51, who lives in Oldham, feels doctors at the Royal Oldham Hospital left Neil to die when he suffered a huge bleed following surgery, blaming his symptoms on him withdrawing from alcohol and not providing life-saving treatment.

The trust has now paid a five-figure compensation settlement to the family, after previously admitting that its failures caused his death.

However, Elaine says no amount of money could make up for losing Neil and the loss of precious family time together.

Elaine said: “Neil was the best dad and we had a very happy family life.

"He wanted to be there for us for years to come and I fully believe he would have tried to get his drinking back to a safe level if he had not suffered such appalling failures.

"Neil did not deserve to be written off in the way that he was and would have had more precious time with his family if doctors had treated him with the urgency he needed.

“I want to urge doctors who are treating patients like Neil to realise that that they are worth saving and have families who love them.

"Treat them like any other patient who has had surgery and give any worrying red flags the same level of urgency.”

Kimberley Peet, a specialist medical negligence solicitor at JMW who handled the family’s case, said: “What happened to Neil was tragic and avoidable.

"There were many missed opportunities for doctors to step in and take control of his condition, but this was not done as they judged him as an addict and not somebody who required immediate medical intervention.

“As well as misdiagnosing Neil with alcohol withdrawal instead of internal bleeding, there were failures to escalate his care and ensure a management plan was in place for the emergency care he needed.

“As a result, this family has been denied precious time with a loving father and husband in the most appalling circumstances.”

Neil was taken to Oldham Hospital by ambulance on August 6, 2019 as he had been coughing up blood.

Doctors diagnosed internal bleeding from a rupture in his oesophagus and a banding operation was carried out to try to stop the bleeding.

Following the operation Neil deteriorated and investigations showed he had a very fast heart rate (a symptom of internal bleeding) and he became very unwell.

Over the next two days Neil was vomiting large quantities of blood and was extremely poorly.

Despite the seriousness of Neil’s symptoms, the hospital initially put them down to alcohol withdrawal and so there was a delay in providing life-saving emergency treatment and a further procedure.

In actual fact, the banding procedure had failed and Neil was internally bleeding.

Instead of being treated as an emergency he was left too long and went into multi-organ failure.

It was not until August 8 that Neil’s condition was recognised and further treatment was attempted.

However, by now it was too late and he was too poorly for surgery.

Neil deteriorated quickly and died at 4pm that afternoon with Elaine by his side.

An internal investigation was launched by the hospital, finding numerous failures and issues with the care provided to Neil.

Dr Alistair Craig, chief officer at Oldham Care Organisation for North Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Royal Oldham Hospital, said: “We once again would like to extend our sincere apologies to Mr Lloyd’s family. 

"A detailed investigation was carried into the circumstances surrounding Mr Lloyd’s death and recommendations following that review have been put into place.

"We have shared the outcome of the investigation with Mr Lloyd’s family including actions taken by the trust to improve the quality and safety of our service. 

"We offer our sincere condolences to Mr Lloyd’s family for the failings in care.” 

Elaine has now set her own bereavement counselling service up to help other families like hers.

Click here for more details.

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