Death in toilets at Watford General: Inquiry must be public (Watford Liberal Democrats)

Watford Liberal Democrats <info@watfordlibdems.org.uk>

Death in toilets at Watford General: Inquiry must be public

May 7, 2009 12:58 PM

Sal Brinton, Liberal DemocratParliamentary Candidate for Watford, who has campaigned for years for the improvement of the West Hertfordshire Hospital Trust is demanding that the internal inquiry into the body of a young man not being discovered for three days at Watford General Hospital must be made public.

Sal Brinton said "The shocking news that the body of a young man was not found in a toilet at Watford General Hospital for three days after his death must raise questions about patient security. Any unexpected death is a horrible experience for the family, but for his body to lay undiscovered for three whole day is appalling. My sympathies go to his family at this very difficult time.

"West Hertfordshire Hospital Trust is rightly holding an inquiry into the case, and I hope that the results of the inquiry are made public, in order to reassure patients and their families that processes have been changed, and to reassure the public that this could never happen again.

In the past, the Hospital Trust has been criticised for poor patient management and poor levels of cleanliness. I hope that the inquiry will address the following questions, in light of the last Healthcare Commission Healthcheck report on West Herts Hospital Trust in 2008, which have an important bearing on the wider levels of performance of the Hospital.

1. What monitoring was in place for a patient in distress, and what arrangements were made to search the hospital for him after he disappeared?

(Healthcare Commission report 2007/8:

C20a: safe, secure environment: Insufficiently Met

C20b: privacy and confidentiality: Poor

National indicator: experience of patients rated Poor)

2. What arrangements were in place for cleaning the toilets, for a body not to be discovered for this length of time?

C21: Clean, well designed environment: Compliant (but not met in 2005/6)

National indicators: C. Dif and MRSA targets: not met

Residents of West Hertfordshire deserve to know what happened as a matter of urgency, and I hope that the Trust will agree to publish the results.