- Margaret Lamberty was admitted to hospital with severe stomach pain
- 45-year-old grandmother had a history of suffering blood clots
- Family claim medics at University Hospital of North Staffordshire ‘abandoned’ her, failing to carry out the proper tests
- Mother-of-four was apparently forced to crawl on her hands and knees to beg for painkillers when her cries for help went unheard, the family say
- Mrs Lamberty’s children claim she was left lying in blood-stained sheets
- She died on April 30 in ‘agonising pain’ say the family, who claim a blood clot in her bowel caused multiple organ failure
- Relatives are considering taking legal action against the hospital
- The trust offered its ‘sincere condolences’ to Mrs Lamberty’s family
- The coroner confirmed an inquest is expected to open later this year
04:50 EST, 29 May 2014
|
04:46 EST, 30 May 2014
This is the harrowing last photograph of a dying grandmother who was left to crawl along the floor in agony after nurses ignored her cries for help.
Two days later, after being abandoned by staff, Margaret Lamberty died of a treatable blood clot in her bowel that staff had failed to detect.
She was taken to AE at the University Hospital of North Staffordshire by her concerned family with chronic stomach pain on the morning of Sunday April 27.
They told staff the 45-year-old had a history of blood clots – which was also in her medical notes – and urged doctors to carry out tests straight away.
Margaret Lamberty is pictured doubled over in ‘agonising pain’ after being admitted to the University Hospital of North Staffordshire with severe stomach pains. She died three days later of multiple organ failure, her family said
The 45-year-old grandmother was forced to crawl on her hands and knees to beg for painkillers after her cries for help went unheard, her family claim
But her family claim medics ignored their pleas and failed to carry out a CT scan that would have detected the clot until two days later when it was too late.
Instead, the mother-of-four was left in a side ward at the scandal-hit hospital for three days. While there, her cries for help were repeatedly ignored – despite the fact the family claim plenty of staff were on duty and ‘didn’t seem busy at all’.
At around 6pm, after Miss Lamberty had been at the hospital for nine hours, her eldest daughter, Laura, 28, pressed an emergency buzzer as her mother screamed in pain.
She waited 30 minutes for assistance, but no one came to help, so she had to go to the reception desk to ask for more painkillers. Staff told her they couldn’t give her anything other than paracetamol.
In desperation, her mother then crawled on her hands and knees down the corridor to beg them for pain relief.
But instead of helping her to her feet or putting her in a wheelchair, her family say she was ignored then eventually walked back to her bed by a male nurse.
Mrs Lamberty’s daughter Laura Lamberty (left) said her mother (right) was left lying in blood-stained sheets and pressed her buzzer for help for more than half-an-hour
‘They looked at her like she was a
deluded woman,’ mother-of-five Laura said last night.
‘After I went back
to Mum and said they are not coming, that’s when she fell off the end
of the bed and crawled out to try and get help. It was really awful.
‘She
crawled out of the room and along the corridor. A male nurse came over
and just put his hand on her shoulder and guided her back to her room.
‘Then they went and got her some morphine which took the edge off a bit but she was still in pain.’
‘She was abandoned in a side room and she died in agonising pain’
– Margaret Lamberty’s daughter Laura
Laura says she also had to wash her mother and make her bed because no staff were available. And she was allegedly left to lie in blood-stained sheets for 24 hours on her second day in hospital.
On the morning of Tuesday 29 April – two days after she arrived at the hospital – she was taken to a critical care ward when her condition deteriorated. She died at 10pm of multiple organ failure.
Her family say doctors only discovered she had a blood clot in her bowel when it was too late to save her. They are now preparing to sue the hospital.
Laura said: ‘My mum was failed by the doctors and the nurses. She was abandoned in a side room while she died in agonising pain. It was the worst thing I have ever had to see. We told doctors over and over again she suffered from blood clots but they simply ignored us. We are determined to get justice for mum.’
Miss Lamberty, a stay-at-home mother, leaves behind four children – Laura, Sarah Lamberty, 27, Tony Hills, 19, and 14-year-old Gemma Riseley – and eight grandchildren.
Laura, from Chell Heath in Stoke-on-Trent, said that the family decided to take the shocking pictures of their mother, who lived in Stoke-on-Trent, to show the doctors how much pain she was in.
She added that their mother had an arterial disease which had caused blood clots in her legs a number of times before. They had been removed with surgery.
Mrs Lamberty’s family are preparing to take legal action against the hospital, claiming medics failed to carry out the proper tests. They say her condition was treatable and doctors should have spotted a blood clot in her bowel which led to multiple organ failure. The hospital have offered their ‘sincere condolences’ to the family
‘Before she was admitted to hospital, Mum was fit and healthy,’ she said. ‘She wasn’t the kind of woman who would moan for no reason. She just got on with things.’
‘She was so happy,’ Laura added. ‘But now she has been taken away from us.’
Local MP Joan Walley demanded a full inquiry by the University Hospital of North Staffordshire.
NHS whistleblower Julie Bailey, who set up campaign group Cure The NHS, last night condemned hospital staff for ignoring Miss Lamberty and the family. She said: ‘Very often patients and their families know what is wrong but too many times we see medics failing to listen to what they are saying.’
MARGARET’S TWO FINAL DAYS OF CEASELESS PAIN
April 27
9am: Margaret Lamberty taken to AE after collapsing at home. Given gas and air and paracetamol every four hours.
3pm: X-rays and other tests are clear. Staff say they do not know what is wrong with her.
6pm: Daughter Laura presses emergency call button as mother’s condition deteriorates. No staff come to help after half an hour.
6.30pm: Reception desk tells Laura her mother is only allowed paracetamol.
6.35pm: Miss Lamberty photographed crawling on the floor in agony.
6.45pm (approx): Finally given morphine which helps the pain, but she is still in agony.
8pm: Laura goes home.
April 28
7.30am: Miss Lamberty, in extreme pain, phones daughter in tears. Laura goes back.
Afternoon: Doctors say they still do not know what is wrong with her.
April 29
Morning: Her organs start failing. CT scan finally identifies blood clot in her bowel.
10pm: Miss Lamberty dies.
Miss Lamberty’s death is the latest in a string of scandals at the £400million super hospital which fully opened only two years ago.
Last November great-grandmother Lillian Baddeley, 81, died eight months after catching four superbugs at the hospital. And two premature babies died in June 2012 after contracting a bug because staff didn’t wash their hands.
A spokesman for the University Hospital of North Staffordshire NHS Trust said it had ‘received correspondence from Miss Lamberty’s family’ and added: ‘The Trust would like to offer its sincere condolences.’
HOSPITAL CHOSEN TO TAKE OVER SCANDAL HIT MID-STAFFORDSHIRE TRUST
Earlier this year health secretary Jeremy Hunt approved plans to dissolve scandal-hit Mid-Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust
Earlier this year health secretary Jeremy Hunt approved plans to
dissolve Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust, announcing University
Hospital of North Staffordshire would take over the site.
The Mid-Staffordshire trust
was put into administration in April last year following an
investigation and review into high mortality rates among patients at
Stafford Hospital.
The trust was criticised in February 2013 in a public inquiry headed by Robert Francis QC for causing the ‘suffering of hundreds of people’ under its care between 2005 and 2008.Â
The inquiry slammed the cost-cutting and target-chasing culture that developed at Mid-Staffordshire.
It found receptionists were left to decide which patients to treat, inexperienced doctors were left in charge of critically ill patients and nurses were not trained to use vital equipment.
Figures show there were between 400 and 1,200 more deaths than would be expected at the trust between 2005 and 2008. It is impossible to say if those patients would have survived if they had received better care.
The inquiry made 290 recommendations aimed at tackling the wider cultural problems in the NHS.
In 2011 a review of death rates at hospitals across the UK found University Hospital of North Staffordshire mortality rates were higher than average – though not in the same league as its neighbour Mid-Staffordshire.
The Dr Foster review discovered in one category – deaths after surgery – the figure was 46 per cent higher than would be expected.
Relating to the measure of deaths in hospital, the Dr Foster review of 2011 found 16 per cent more patients were dying than would be expected at the trust.
Since then the hospital has improved mortality rates.
Last year the trust’s mortality ratio was 91, down from 104 the year before.
And the latest board papers, for May, reveal: ‘Mortality continued to improve and compares well against national and peer group benchmarks.’
The hospital’s latest report on the issue looked at four areas, for elective and emergency admissions, weekend mortality and deaths after surgery.
The board papers said: ‘All these mortality indicators are within expected ranges with the exception of the deaths after surgery indicator.’
And the latest Dr Foster report echoes the hospital’s report, adding that within all four categories, overall mortality is within the expected range.
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The comments below have been moderated in advance.
Jackie Day,
bristol, United Kingdom,
3 hours ago
George Michael manages to get two ambulances to take him to hospital and paramedics stay at his house for four hours and this poor woman just wanted pain relief?
Maggie,
Oxford,
6 hours ago
But you can be sure no managers went without a bonus…
kuky,
los angeles, United States,
7 hours ago
In England ? !!! No !!!
Lou – End of Days,
London, United Kingdom,
7 hours ago
As a Nurse I am horrified at this poor womans agony and her families loss. I hate to admit it but it happens and a lot of the time, the Doctors do not listen to the nursing staff. I have tears in my eyes as I write this. My beloved NHS has gone.
DMCommenter,
Mountains, United States,
8 hours ago
Socialism sucks
Rob,
Brisbane,
8 hours ago
There is no way back from this horror situation because the NHS resources are been used up at a massive rate due to immigrants pouring in with their health issues from third world countries.
Richard Merrell,
Blue Mountains, Australia,
8 hours ago
The NHS does it again……………….
Telling It As It Is,
Birmingham, United Kingdom,
17 hours ago
“The hospital has offered its ‘sincere condolences’†Oh, that makes it alright then! Bl00dy useless NHS.
Captain Peacock,
London,
4 hours ago
Rick,
Leeds, England,
17 hours ago
We used to set example. Can’t recognize our Great Britain anymore.
Hayden,
Reading, United Kingdom,
17 hours ago
Such a sad photo of her lying on the floor, terrible for her. RIP and thoughts to her family. Such a waste of a life.
Kimbo,
Bordon,
3 hours ago
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