Disabled patients 'dying of NHS abuse and lack of care'

DOZENS of vulnerable patients may have died of neglect in NHS hospitals and care homes, it was revealed today.

The health service ombudsman will launch a new inquiry after relatives said their loved ones suffered "horrific abuse" at the hands of doctors, nurses and care staff.

Today the ombudsman Ann Abraham released a report into six deaths in NHS or local authority care between 2003 and 2005.

Learning disability charity Mencap had complained to her last year on behalf of their families. The report showed there had been human rights abuses and discrimination.

But campaigners today warned that the deaths are just the "tip of the iceberg" with many more examples of institutional discrimination uncovered, prompting the new inquiry.

In today's report, Ms Abraham found a catalogue of "significant and distressing failures" in hospital and council care.

She revealed that patients with learning difficulties were treated as second-class citizens, resulting in "prolonged suffering and inappropriate care".

Ms Abraham found that Mark Cannon, 30, died as a consequence of public service failure by the Barking, Havering and Redbridge Hospitals NHS Trust and Havering council in east London.

Mr Cannon, of Romford, Essex, was epileptic and had a severe learning difficulty which meant that he had very little speech.

In June 2003 he broke his leg at a council care home. Despite receiving treatment at Oldchurch hospital in Romford, which is now closed, he died eight weeks later from complications.

The ombudsman concluded he had been left in severe pain and distress for prolonged periods, and was twice discharged from hospital without due concern for his safety. She also upheld a complaint against the Healthcare Commission finding that the regulator's review of a complaint by Mr Cannon's parents was "unreliable and unsafe".

In the case of stroke patient Martin Ryan, 43, of Richmond, who had Down's Syndrome and died in December 2005 at Kingston hospital, Ms Abraham found that doctors failed to give him a feeding tube and said: "At best [care] is patchy."

In the four other cases Ms Abraham did not say the deaths were avoidable but she criticised standards of care.

A spokeswoman for Mencap told the Evening Standard: "Dozens more families have been in touch with horrific stories of their loved ones with learning disabilities suffering neglect at the hands of the NHS.

"These deaths result from institutional discrimination and repeated failures in service."

New cases which have come to light include that of Lisa Sharpe, 21, who died after a routine operation at Basildon hospital. Her death in February 2004 is still being investigated by Ms Abraham. But her family say doctors failed to give Miss Sharpe, who suffered from cerebral palsy, pain relief despite being in agony.

Her mother Mary, from Billericay, Essex, said: "She was still crying and screaming when she died." The hospital has not yet commented.

Relatives of the six patients whose deaths were investigated called for the staff responsible to be named and shamed. Mr Ryan's mother Vera Ryan said: "My son was starved to death on an NHS ward. I am pleased the investigation has set out the truth. But we are angry that the staff who did that are not named and brought to justice."

Today both Kingston hospital and Barking, Havering and Redbridge University trust formally apologised to the families. Kingston chief executive Kate Grimes branded failures by staff to feed Mr Ryan as "inexcusable".