|
|
 |
| |
Adrienn Both and Andras Toth with their baby Csenge in their garden in July |
Royal Free Hospital admits liability in the tragic death of baby Almos...
‘They just wanted something that said it was not their fault. We still have had no apology’
ALMOST two years after the death of newborn baby Almos Toth at a Hampstead hospital, an independent review has found a botched suction method used to deliver him was to blame for the tragedy.
Almos’s parents, Adrienn Both and Andras Toth, said the findings, published by the NHS Litigation Authority on Thursday, had given them enough peace of mind to look forward to their first Christmas with their seven-month-old baby, Csenge.
But they criticised the Royal Free Hospital, where their son was born, for failing to apologise – 23 months on from his death.
The couple, who lived near Kenwood House in Winnington Road at the time of Almos’s death, have instructed their lawyer to seek an apology in writing and financial compensation.
Ms Both said last night (Wednesday) that reading the report had brought back so many bad memories she cried for two days.
“To read it like that, with bullet points from one to four, explaining why they made so many mistakes, it made me angry. We just remember at the beginning the hospital wanted to find something that said it was not their fault. They were looking for something to hang it on. We still haven’t had any apologies.”
An inquest into Almos’s death found he died from an “accidental healthcare event” at the Pond Street hospital after a junior doctor placed the suction cup, known as Ventouse Cup, on his head when he was still too far up in the birthing canal for the method to work.
The independent report found that the attempted delivery by the doctor had been “inappropriately performed” and “that there was probably an incorrect assessment of the fetal head... and this probably led to the inappropriate application of the Ventouse cup.”
It added the Hospital Trust “accepted that Ventouse delivery should probably have taken place in theatre as a trial and should have been supervised by the Senior Registrar”.
The doctor who performed the Ventouse delivery told April’s coroner’s inquest that she had been “100 per cent sure” about her decision – despite protests from his parents not to use the cup and hospital guidelines stating she should consult her senior doctor. She said his subsequent death had been “difficult personally” for her.
A Royal Free spokeswoman said: “Following an independent review of the case, the Trust accepts that there were shortcomings in Baby Almos Toth’s care which probably caused his death. We deeply regret this and have done a lot of work to ensure that a similar incident does not occur again.”
Ms Both said the couple planned to spend this Christmas in their native Hungary and that baby Csenge would make it “the nicest since we lost Almos” and a second Christmas heartbreak last year when Mr Toth’s father died.
... and it’s £6.2m in the red because of computer shambles
THE Royal Free’s top finance chief has quit just days after the hospital revealed it has lost more than £6million on a disastrous new computer system.
A hospital statement said Mary Leadbeater quit her job as treasurer and finance director for “personal reasons”.
Her exit was revealed at a board meeting on Thursday. At the same meeting, directors learned of the financial blow caused by the disastrous trial of the Cerner Millennium Care Records Service, which has pushed the hospital £6.2m into the red.
The new technology – which replaced paper patient records with a digital system – has caused chaos for staff, who were not properly trained, and patients who have had appointments booked incorrectly.
Insiders said a Royal Free push to become an independent “Foundation Trust”, which is dependent on being able to prove it can handle its own finances, is now on hold.
Hospital accounts show:
• Loss: £3.78m because of poor data entry and re-training staff.
• Loss: £1.23m for hiring extra staff to double check data is entered correctly.
• Loss: £1.32m for missing clinics and admission slots not being used.
A hospital spokeswoman said: “We are in discussions with NHS London and the London Programme for Information Technology (LPfIT) on when and how the costs incurred as a consequence of the Cerner Records Service can be recovered.”
But a hospital source said: “The hospital’s finances are in a terrible state because of Cerner. They have been forced to put back their discussions on Foundation Trust status for three months because of the losses. It’s a total shambles.”
The hospital admits that staff were not properly trained in the build-up to “going live” on June 17 and, combined with a series of chaotic crashes, many records of appointments and treatments have been lost.
The hospital is likely to miss the government’s 18-week target for treatment as a result and cannot even say for sure what treatment has been carried out,
affecting its funding allowance from the Camden Primary Care Trust.
Cerner, the UK arm of an American IT firm based in Kansas City, was contracted by NHS London as part of a £16billion upgrade of all NHS patient records. |
 |
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
