Report reveals New Cross Hospital blunders

A stroke victim was wrongly sent home and a dead man's gold rings went missing in a series of blunders at New Cross Hospital.

A total of three mistakes at the Wolverhampton hospital were today laid bare in a new report.

Investigations from the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman found:

* A man who had suffered a stroke was sent home after being told his symptoms were 'normal'.

* Chiefs paid out £1,000 to a woman whose husband's two gold rings went missing before his funeral.

* A scan on a pregnant woman failed to pick up that a one of her two twins had died.

Bosses from the Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust have apologised for all three errors.

The missing rings were of sentimental value and the man's wife told a nurse shortly after he had died that she would like them to remain on her husband's body for the funeral.

But, as revealed in the report: "The rings went missing. 'Mrs A' complained about the trust's failure to take care of the jewellery and the distress of having to pursue the matter at such a time."

In another blunder, a man attended A&E after suffering severe headaches, numb limbs, slurred speech, confusion and dizziness but was sent home.

"Staff carried out a scan and told 'Mr R' it was normal. They sent him home, after telling him to go to a clinic the next day," the document reads.

A stroke specialist then reviewed the patient's case and decided he had suffered a stroke. He was readmitted to hospital and remained there for weeks.

The hospital wrote to the patient and his family, acknowledging he should have been admitted to the acute stroke unit when arriving at A&E. It also produced an action plan to help staff diagnose patients in the future. However the ombudsman did find that the delay that did not have an adverse affect on the patient.

The third case revealed today is of a woman pregnant with twins who went to an antenatal foetal assessment unit at New Cross.

The report states: "A recording of the fetal heartbeat and uterine contradictions (CTG) was performed and it was considered that this showed reassuring features.

"The next day a doctor was asked to review 'Mrs R' early in the morning because the fetal heartbeat for one of the twins could not be found.

"Medical staff carried out an urgent ultrasound that showed that one twin had died."

The woman had an emergency caesarean and the other twin survived.

There was no evidence to suggest any wrongdoing which led to the baby's death, but the ombudsman said the trust caused distress to the woman.