Widower hopes Grimsby hospital can improve

A GOVERNMENT team drafted in to find out why Grimsby's hospital's death rates are so high arrives this week – and you can aid the inquiry.

Northern Lincolnshire and Goole Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (NLAG) was singled out as one of just a handful needing urgent attention across the country.

Now a review team, set up by the medical director of NHS England, Sir Bruce Keogh, will assess where improvements need to be made.

They will visit Grimsby's Diana, Princess Of Wales Hospital, which NLAG runs, from tomorrow for three days, and will also host a public "listening event" at the Grimsby Institute.

As reported, slight improvements have been made to mortality rates at the trust – figures which also take the hospitals in Scunthorpe and Goole into account. But overall, they are still higher than the national average, and although this was as expected by NHS bosses, the trust is one of 14 being visited by Sir Bruce's team of experienced doctors, nurses and patient representatives.

One man keen to meet the team was brought to tears by the care his late wife received.

Roy Barwick, 66, of Ward Street, Cleethorpes, was not surprised by the statistics at NLAG; he said it "fitted in" with what he experienced.

His wife Diane Barwick died in September 2008 at home after being diagnosed with lung cancer.

The month before she was admitted to Grimsby hospital, and Roy claims he could have taken better care of her at home.

He said: "One particular day I visited her and the nurses stopped me before I stepped onto the ward.

"I asked if everything was ok and they told me that Diane would not let them wash her – she only wanted me to do it.

"I thought this was fine. After all we had been together 44 years so she felt at ease with me.

"When I got to her she was laying in a soaking wet bed – whether she had wet herself or spilt something I still do not know.

"I told the nurses, who just handed me two clean sheets, so it was a do-it-yourself job.

"I rolled Diane over to change the sheets and found two steroid tablets underneath her.

"Again I told the nurses, who just threw them away and nothing more was done.

"What astounded me the most was that the patient next to Diane at the time called me over to say my wife had fallen out of bed the previous night and even though her buzzer was going, a nurse took a while to assist."

Roy remains so upset by the care he claims his wife received that he opted to have surgery himself at St Hugh's Hospital.

While he is not suggesting there was a link between Diane's death and her care, he has welcomed the arrival of the review team, adding: "If their work can help improve care in the future then it has to be good.

"It is too late for Diane but hopefully the NHS can turn itself around."