Anger of tragic Raychel’s mum as nurses to face no action over fatal hospital failings
THE mother of a child whose death in hospital was found to be avoidable has said she has been left furious after learning that no further action will be taken against nurses involved in her daughter’s care.
Raychel Ferguson was nine when she died at the Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children in June 2001, a day after undergoing an appendix operation at Altnagelvin Hospital.
Four other children — Adam Strain, Claire Roberts, Lucy Crawford and Conor Mitchell — all died of hyponatraemia, an abnormally low level of sodium in blood that can occur when fluids are given incorrectly, between 1995 and 2003.
In January the Hyponatraemia Inquiry found that four out of the five deaths it investigated were preventable.
The 14-year probe was chaired by Mr Justice O’Hara and his final report was scathing of how the families had been treated in the aftermath, and of medical professionals’ attitude to the investigation.
In a letter to Raychel’s mother Marie Ferguson dated October
15, the The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), the regulatory body for nurses, said while the allegations were “extremely serious”, it had “concluded that the failings identified have been addressed so there is no further action they could take at this time”.
Mrs Ferguson said she was “extremely disappointed”.
She called on the NMC to reverse its decision. The NMC said: “It’s clear that there were serious failings in care around hyponatraemia at Western Health and Social Care Trust and that these failings have had a devastating impact on the families involved.
“We’ve received a number of complaints relating to nurses at the trust. We carefully examined these and decided that we did not need to take any further action.
“We were assured by the trust that a number of measures were taken at a local level to address the concerns raised.
“All of the nurses have undertaken training around recognising and managing hyponatraemia and the trust have made changes on the wards to assist with recognising and escalating concerns.
“We understand the impact of our decision on the family. We have been in contact with them and look to remain in contact with them throughout this difficult time.
“Our process is not about punishing nurses, but looking at whether or not they’re currently a risk to the public.
“We aim to encourage learning to prevent the same mistakes from happening again.”
The letter said there was “no suggestion that the nurses were aware of the risks of hyponatraemia or had appreciated risks associated with Raychel’s condition,” and that “all nurses have shown remorse and are insightful as to why the failings contributed to Raychel’s death”.