Patient died after not being properly diagnosed at Wolverhampton's New Cross Hospital

New Cross Hospital in Wolverhampton has paid out £1,000 to the family of the elderly woman, who had also picked up an infection while on the wards.

It is one of a series of blunders revealed today by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman.

In the case, 'Mrs V' went into hospital with confusion. Staff diagnosed her with a low potassium level and her breathing was poor and her condition deteriorated.

Days later, ward staff noted that Mrs V usually took warfarin and gave her heparin.

They transferred her to another ward and found she had a hospital-acquired infection and dehydration. Doctors put her on a ventilator but she died soon afterwards.

The ombudsman found doctors did not assess Mrs V adequately or recognise that she was frail and suffering from delirium. There was also a delay in treating her severe hospital-acquired infection and dehydration, and staff did not manage Mrs V's medicines appropriately.

The report said: "Although we did not find that those failings caused Mrs V's death, they contributed to her

progressive clinical deterioration. The knowledge that Mrs V received poor care has distressed Mr V."

The trust acknowledged its failings and apologised to her son and paid him £1,000 compensation and agreed to prepare an action plan to make sure it learnt lessons from the complaint.

In total, 200 have today been published with 18 in the West Midlands – more than any other area.

In another case, a patient at New Cross with Parkinson's Disease had to wait four days to get medication because they did not have them in stock. The ombudsman found the trust should have provided necessary medication sooner and ordered the hospital to produce a plan to avoid a repeat of the incident.

In a third case in Wolverhampton, £200 was paid to a man who suffered a fractured hip after a fall. The ombudsman said the patient had not been properly assessed and then was placed in a chair causing him pain and discomfort.

A case at Walsall Manor Hospital found staff did not follow surgical guidance and there were failings over communication and record keeping for a patient with inflammatory bowel disease.

Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman Julie Mellor said: "Our investigations highlight how failures in public services can affect the lives of individuals and their families.

"Public services, MPs and members of the public can see the different types of complaints we look into. People can see our decisions and findings and, where we uphold their complaint, they can see the recommendations and learning from it.

"This will also give people with concerns about the service they received the confidence to come to us to complain because they can see how complaining makes a positive difference to them."

Both the Royal Wolverhampton Trust and Walsall Healthcare Trust did not respond with a comment.