Sheffield hospital bosses admit 'serious lapses' after woman's death from sepsis
Video report by Astrid Quinn
A hospital has admitted "serious lapses" in the care of a woman who died from sepsis after medics failed to replace essential stents.
Retired chef Susan Bamford, from Chapeltown near Sheffield, died following multi-organ failure at the city's Northern General Hospital, four days after being admitted.
Her death on 6 December 2021 came almost four years after she was given stents – tubes fitted to allow her to pass urine – at Sheffield's Royal Hallamshire Hospital.
They had never been replaced, despite advice to change them at least once a year.An inquest heard Mrs Bamford's death at the age of 64 was a result of neglect.
Mrs Bamford’s family are now urging other patients to chase appointments to have stents replaced.
Her daughter Nicole Critcher said: "We are just wanting to raise awareness of what happened to my mum because we do not want it to happen to anyone else.
"There will be people out there who may have had this type of stent and have not had them replaced which was unfortunately fatal in my mum’s case."Mrs Bamford was admitted to Northern General Hospital on 3 December 2021 with shortness of breath and renal impairment. A CT scan showed her kidney was enlarged.She continued to deteriorate and died three days later.
Assistant coroner Steve Eccleston concluded she died from an infection caused by the hospital's failure to change the stents.
Dr Jennifer Hill, medical director at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said the trust accepted "serious lapses" in Mrs Bamford's care.
"Whilst this was a rare incident, it has been very important to conduct a full review of what happened so that changes could be made as soon as possible to limit the chances of it happening again," she said.
She said measures had been put in place to ensure stents were regularly replaced.
"We have shared the findings of the review with Mrs Bamford’s family and made a full apology although we do realise that an apology will never be enough to alleviate the loss her family and friends are feeling," said Dr Hill.
"We have also shared the learning widely with other hospitals who provide the same type of care.”
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