Wife's anger after husband death 'likely' caused by hospital contracted Covid-19
The wife of a man who died during a Covid-19 outbreak at Weston General Hospital has spoken of her 'anger' after being told the virus is likely to have contributed to his death.
She says she witnessed staff 'working across both Covid and non Covid wards' and saw an inconsistent use of PPE.
The NHS Trust which runs the hospital has apologised and is carrying out an investigation into the man’s death.
The woman, who wishes to remain anonymous, says her husband was terminally ill and she doesn't believe he had long to live. However, she says he was Covid-free when he was admitted to Weston General Hospital.
She said: "He went into hospital with a chest infection. He was given a Covid test, which came back as negative.
"He was given another one three or four days later, that was, again, negative, and he was in a room on his own and stayed in hospital for a couple of weeks.
"He was given another Covid check and it came back as positive."
A letter received by the woman, seen by ITV News, confirms the man contracted 'probably hospital-acquired Covid-19' and this is 'likely to have contributed to his death'.
The woman explained what she witnessed when she visited him: "I saw staff working across both Covid and non Covid wards.
"They weren’t being consistent with their PPE, sometimes they were wearing it, sometimes they weren’t.
"It made me very angry because he caught Covid at this hospital."
The woman's husband was one of 31 people who came for treatment at Weston General Hospital for something other than coronavirus, contracted the virus there and then died.
An internal investigation has found that in 18 of those cases Covid-19 may have been a contributing factor in those deaths.
The University Hospitals Bristol & Weston NHS Foundation Trust also runs the Bristol Royal Infirmary and has confirmed that across its sites 140 people contracted Covid between March and July 2020.
51 of those people died and in 24 of those cases the virus is 'likely to have contributed to their deaths'.
The wife of the man who died is now waiting to hear the result of a detailed investigation into her husband’s death.
She says she continues to grieve for him and the extra time she believes her family could have had with him: "It took him away from us early, we didn’t have time to spend with him, quality time before he passed away.
"I didn’t get to hug him - and that’s very sad. His end of life wasn’t how we wanted it to be. We were all very angry."
The union Unison, which represents some staff at Weston General Hospital, told ITV News what its members experienced at that time.
Lisa Youlton, regional manager at Unison, said: "They were worried about the information that they needed to do the job. They couldn’t get access to testing, they didn’t know, necessarily, what was going on in other parts of the hospital.
"If there’s one criticism to make, it would be that communication in those very pressured times was quite challenging. Staff weren’t aware, for example, if there was comrades that had become unwell and what the implications of that might be for them to take part in managing their own safety.
"Things have improved, there's no doubt about that. There is an improvement in our understanding of what measures they need to put in place, there are systems and measures in place to make sure PPE is provided.
"Some of those things that led to the extreme pressures in those early stages are undoubtedly better"
In a response to ITV News' investigation, Dr William Oldfield, the medical director at the Trust said they are taking this matter extremely seriously.
“Our thoughts are with the family and we apologise for the distress we have caused. It would not be appropriate for us to comment on individual patients, however, we are taking this matter extremely seriously. We are carrying out individual investigations into the specific circumstances of any patient in our care where we have identified that hospital acquired COVID-19 may have regrettably contributed to their death. We have been open with the families and offered our sincere apologies and invited them to inform the investigation to ensure that the questions and concerns they have are addressed.
“We recognise that other patients and families may also have concerns and we would encourage them to contact the Trust on 0117 342 1053 between 9am and 4pm Monday-Friday.
“We undertook a robust investigation into the outbreak of coronavirus in Weston GeneralHospital earlier this year, and we have published the findings in order to support the learning of our partners and the wider NHS.
“Staff testing was, and continues to be, available to all staff and is carried out in line withnational guidance. Throughout the pandemic, information has been provided to staff abouthow to access testing, along with clear guidance on self-isolation in line with national advice.
“Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) was, and continues to be, available to all staff alongwith advice on correct use in different scenarios in line with national guidance.
“The outbreak at Weston General Hospital occurred in the context of a rapidly evolving pandemic. The entire health system now understands much more about COVID-19 and national advice and guidance has evolved to reflect this. We continue to do everything possible to minimise the risk of hospital acquired infection and keep staff and patients safe.”