Inquest finds woman's death was 'caused by neglect' after being made to wait 39 hours in hospital

• Our correspondent Victoria Grimes spoke to Marina's sister.

A coroner has ruled neglect and gross failure caused the death of a disabled woman who spent almost two days in a chair in A&E following an asthma attack.

Marina Young was taken to Royal Preston Hospital by her sister Michelle after suffering a severe asthma attack on 20 June 2022 - and died 39 hours later.

Her inquest at County Hall in Preston heard there were five missed opportunities to save the life of the "vulnerable" 46-year-old who had spina bifida.

The coroner concluded staff repeatedly failed to give her the right medical care or assessment.

Michelle Young, who is a retired hospital ward sister, said she knew something was wrong in regards to her Marina's death.

She added Marina was "everything" to their family and that she needed to find out what happened.

Michelle said: "I handed over my sister, who was vulnerable, to them and they handed her back and she had died and I will never get over it.

"I will never get over the mental image of her in that room and that will stay with me for the rest of my life.

"But I won't stop fighting for what the NHS does stand for and it does have core values of care and compassion but we need to change it."

Marina, who was the first baby in the UK to have a bladder transplant, was taken to hospital by her sister Michelle on 20 June 2022 after suffering a severe asthma attack.

Michelle was unable to stay at the hospital with Marina due to the Covid-19 restrictions in place at the time, but stayed in touch with her via text message.

On 21 June, Marina sent a message to Michelle to say she had been told she might need to be moved to intensive care.

At 10am the next day, Michelle returned to the A&E department to drop items off for Marina, only to be told that she had died.

Michelle said: "The last text message Marina had sent to me was that she was scared, because she wasn't getting any better.

"She was really short of breath and her messages said she was going to the intensive care unit. They had told her she was going to intensive care unit but that never happened.

"So she became more scared because she didn't get any better."

When Michelle went to see Marina's body, she found that she still had her clothes and shoes on and smelt strongly of urine.

She said Marina never wore her shoes for long as it caused her pain.

An inquest at Preston County Hall on Friday, 27 September, concluded Marina's death was preventable and was caused by neglect.

It found the hospital missed several opportunities to treat the 46-year-old appropriately during the 39 hours she waited in A&E for a hospital bed.

A referral was also not made to either a senior member of the medical team or the critical care team for advice or support.

Earlier in the inquest, Professor Barnes - an independent expert - said Marina should have been admitted to the intensive care. He told the court that if appropriate measures were taken at that time, Marina would not have died at that point and had an 80% chance of survival overall.

The coroner also found there has been "insufficient action" taken by the hospital since Marina’s death two years ago and it will be writing to the trust.

A Lancashire Teaching Hospitals spokesperson said: “The Trust would like to offer its sincere condolences to the family and friends of Marina Young and apologise for the failings identified in our own investigation and the Coroner’s report.

“We welcome the independent scrutiny of the Coroner and are committed to the further actions and learning identified in the inquest.”

Michelle said she hopes the inquest process "leads to change and to the avoidance of anyone else going through what we have had to endure.”

Want a quick and expert briefing on the biggest news stories? Listen to our latest podcasts to find out What You Need To Know...