An investigation into King George’s Hospital has found a woman from Dagenham, who died from bladder cancer, could have survived if the hospital had diagnosed her sooner.
Pamela North was referred to the hospital in February 2015 but her tumour wasn’t discovered until 13 months later.
By the time the 73-year-old was diagnosed, it was too late to treat her and she passed away in May 2016.
Following a complaint by Mrs North’s family, the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) has found that her death could have been avoided.
Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust (BHRUT), which runs King George’s, has now made changes made to prevent the same mistakes happening again.
Pamela’s son James told Time 107.5: “It still is difficult to know that my mum was failed by the NHS.
“We have nothing against the NHS whatsoever or the staff but the procedures needed to be changed because she slipped through them.
“If we can save two or three lives through the changes, or hopefully all lives, then it’s good. Something good has come out of my mum’s death.”
Pamela passed away on 25 May 2016, the birthday of her husband who had passed away 14 years earlier.
The PSHO found that, had Mrs North been diagnosed in March 2015, her chance of survival would have been 70%.
Instead she had to endure the symptoms of kidney failure before she passed away.
Initially BHRUT refused to acknowledge that Pamela could have survived if she’d received the right care and treatment.
But the trust has since written to the family and apologised for Mrs North’s death.
And, at the Ombudsman’s recommendation, BHRUT paid £10,000 to her family.
James added: “It was never about the money. The £10,000 we donated it straight away to St. Francis Hospice.”
The hospice cared for Pamela in the weeks before she died and James’s dad was also looked after there before he passed away.
“It’s such a lovely place. Such lovely people.
“You couldn’t ask for anywhere else for my mum to spend her last few weeks.
“She’d have liked to have stayed at home but it just got too much.
“We knew she had to go there and she got the care that she deserved.”
Rob Behrens, Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, said: “Doctors and nurses do a tremendous job caring for hundreds of thousands of patients day in and day out.
“But, as this tragic case shows, it is vital that lessons are learnt by the NHS to prevent the same mistakes from happening to someone else.
“Time and time again we find NHS investigations into deaths inadequate, causing further suffering to families who have lost their loved ones.
“This case also shows the importance of complaining so that changes and improvements are made to NHS services.”
