Royal Free Hospital ‘sorry’ for Robert Smillie who lay dead for a week
Published: 18 February 2010
by JOSIE HINTON
A CONSULTANT at the Royal Free Hospital has apologised “unreservedly” for communication failures that led to a patient lying dead in his flat for a week.
Dr Jennifer Cross, a renal consultant at the Hampstead hospital, said sorry to the family of kidney dialysis patient Robert Smillie, 55, of Dartmouth Park, for “clear failures” following his sudden death.
St Pancras Coroner’s Court heard on Thursday that a board-level investigation was launched by the Royal Free after Mr Smillie, who suffered from advanced chronic kidney disease, was found dead in his flat in Denyer House, Highgate Road, by a cleaner on October 23 – a week after he was discharged by doctors.
He was a regular patient at the Pond Street hospital and received kidney dialysis three times a week at a satellite unit in Highgate Hill.
But following his death from sudden heart failure, a breakdown in communication between the Royal Free and the unit meant that neither noticed he did not turn up for dialysis for a week.
The court heard that consultants at the hospital have since reviewed their procedures.
Dr Cross told the court: “We have undergone a review of our systems because they were clearly inadequate in this case. There have been clear failures in our systems. I apologise unreservedly for that.”
The court heard a number of errors occurred following Mr Smillie’s discharge. The Royal Free mistakenly informed the Highgate unit – where he was due for dialysis – that he was still an inpatient at the hospital. Doctors also sent him home with a discharge sheet belonging to an elderly female patient with a completely different condition.
Anne McReynolds, matron on the renal ward at the Royal Free, told the court changes had since been made.
She added: “At the time there were two dialysis wards which we believe led to the breakdown in communication. We have since redesigned our dialysis services into an area that is much more centralised.”
Recording a verdict of death by natural causes, coroner Dr Andrew Reid said the failures had no bearing on Mr Smillie’s death, as he died from sudden heart failure.