Ilford mum dies after NHS failure

TWO CHILDREN have lost their mother after a series of medics failed to spot that she had a life-threatening condition – sepsis. The terrible story was revealed at an inquest into the death of Shahida Begum, which happened last July.

The inquest heard how Shahida Begum sought medical help.
•First she went to her GP, suffering from sickness and dizziness. She had pain in her right side and was coughing. Most worryingly, she also had a red rash on her side. She was sent home without treatment, with the GP telling her that she had nothing to worry about.
•Second, her condition deteriorated and three days after the GP visit Ms Begum attended Newham University Hospital. Again, medics failed to spot the tell-tale signs and told Ms Begum that the pain in her side was just a muscle sprain and gave her some medication to ease it.

The following day Ms Begum returned to hospital, where she was finally diagnosed with sepsis. Emergency treatment began, but it was too late. Her heart stopped three times and she died from multiple organ failure.

Ms Begum and her family – her husband, Mohammed Rahman, and their two children – had moved into their home in Ilford less than a year before she died. What should have been a happy and long-lasting family home has been a scene of avoidable loss. Mr Rahman told reporters of his shock at his wife’s death, which has left the family “devastated”.

The inquest decided that if Ms Begum’s GP had sent her to A&E, “it is likely her death would have been avoided”. The coroner, Nadia Persaud, announced that she would issue a Prevention of Future Deaths Order. This will instruct the Newham GP Co-operative and Barts Health NHS Trust, which runs Newham General Hospital, to improve their systems so that patients who need to go to A&E are referred there – not back to their GP, or sent home.

Barts NHS Trust has already investigated Ms Begum’s death. Their investigation has found that when Ms Begum arrived at hospital, she had an initial assessment. Worryingly, the investigation concluded that this assessment wrongly sent her to the GP area rather than to A&E; the diagnosis of muscle sprain did not fit with her symptoms; and the service did not follow the NICE guidelines for assessing whether she might have had sepsis. The investigation has already resulted in twelve recommendations on how the hospital’s service could be improved.

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