Widow seeks institutional change after death of husband from preventable pressure sore at Royal United Hospital Bath.

Gaynor Nippard, whose husband died in July 2022 from a pressure sore that could have been avoided with basic nursing care, hopes to ensure that other patients don’t suffer as a result of an apparent lack of pressure sore training at the Royal United Hospitals in Bath (RUH).

Following the outcome of an inquest in 2023, and settlement of a subsequent negligence claim more recently, Mrs Nippard hopes specifically that the coroner’s guidance on preventing future deaths will be followed to improve screening and training of nursing staff so others won’t have to go through the same ordeal.

Mrs Nippard’s husband Alan was admitted to the RUH in Bath after he suffered a fall at home caused by septic arthritis in his knee. Once admitted, Alan was transferred to Pierce Ward where his knee injury was successfully treated. He then required an inpatient stay whilst he recuperated from the surgery.

Whilst an inpatient Alan developed a pressure sore to his sacrum which would have been preventable with basic nursing care which was not provided. The pressure sore deteriorated significantly over the following weeks and he developed Fournier’s Gangrene, which is a very serious, acute necrotic infection of the genitals and buttocks. The deterioration of the pressure sore was also found to have been preventable if basic nursing such as skin care, regularly repositioning Alan in bed or providing appropriate personal care had been provided. At the inquest, the Trust’s lead Tissue Viability Nurse described the care Alan received as ‘shocking’.

Sadly, Alan did not have the physiological reserves to survive the only treatment available for Fournier’s Gangrene which is surgical debridement under general anaesthetic and therefore the decision was taken to place him on end of life care and treat him palliatively. He died on 6 July 2022. Gaynor said “We as a family are absolutely devastated with losing Alan the way we did”.

Royal United Hospitals recently settled a medical negligence claim with Mrs Nippard for an undisclosed sum, where she was represented by Becky Randel, an associate in the clinical negligence team of RWK Goodman.

Becky Randel said,

“Whilst the family instructed us to represent them at the inquest and in a subsequent claim, their objective has always been that the poor care Alan received was made widely known and that the Trust made improvements to ensure that such awful care did not happen to others. At the inquest, hospital staff accepted that despite the failings in Alan’s care taking place a year prior, there had been further pressure sores incidents on the same ward. It is hoped that the training put in place by the Trust after the inquest has led to improvements on the ward, however, such basic nursing care should not have been absent either at the time of Alan’s death or a year later at his inquest.”