‘We’ve had to fight five years for the truth’
PARENTS OF BOY WHO DIED AT SCANDAL-HIT CHILDREN’S WARD OPEN UP ON THEIR LEGAL ORDEAL
THE mother of a young boy who died at a scandal-hit children’s ward has spoken of her anger at hospital bosses for what she described as an 18-month legal battle.
Faye Valentine, 32, from Cardiff, criticised University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust for insensitivity and putting the family through extra stress.
Her son Luke Jenkins died in 2012 aged seven after undergoing surgery at Bristol Children’s Hospital to correct a congenital heart defect.
About 10 families are believed to be taking legal action against the trust, including seven whose children died following treatment on Ward 32.
Last year, a damning Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman report branded Luke’s post-operative care and treatment at the hospital as a “service failure”.
The conclusions went further than the Bristol Review carried out by NHS England into cardiac services at the hospital.
Ms Valentine and her partner Stephen Jenkins, 35, from St Mellons, launched legal action against the trust and a settlement was agreed at the High Court in London yesterday.
The mother-of-four said the family’s solicitor had made an offer to settle out of court for £100,000 18 months ago, which the trust declined.
“About five weeks ago they offered us £3,000 to settle the case. We said no, we’re going to court,” she said.
“We didn’t realise that in the meantime this offer stays on the table and two weeks later they said they would accept this.
“In the meantime, we had written our statements for the High Court and they pulled out a week before they were due to be submitted.
“They made us go through all of that and then pulled out and said they were settling the case and didn’t want to take it any further.”
Ms Valentine said they had no choice but to settle out of court as otherwise they faced a large legal bill had they continued. They will use the settlement to set up a trust fund for their other children.
“They are not making an admission of liability and accepting they caused anything,” she said.
“Ultimately, it has been about Luke but lately it has turned into a legal battle and everything seems to be forgetting the real reason behind it – what happened to Luke.
“We’ve had to fight for five years for the truth. We wanted that day in court but unfortunately it is out of our hands now. It has come as a shock because we were not expecting it at
all. They have put us through an extra 18 months of stress making us relive it.
“We’ve lost Luke and had to go through five years of a battle for them to just turn around and settle. It’s just so insensitive.
“We have never done this for the money. Ultimately it will be for the children’s future.
“How can you put a price on what happened? It will never end for us and we will never forget what happened to Luke.”
Trust chief executive Robert Woolley said: “The care Luke received has been subject to several independent, expert reviews – by the Avon Coroner, the Independent Review of Children’s Cardiac Services in Bristol and the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman – none of which showed that we caused his death.
“We fully accept, however, that there were failings in the care and treatment we gave him and we also accept that, after his death, we compounded the pain and grief of his family by giving incorrect and incomplete information in response to their complaint.
“We are deeply sorry for everything we got wrong and we have apologised to Luke’s parents for letting them down so badly.
“This settlement agreement recognises the benefit of avoiding further distress to Luke’s family. We developed a comprehensive action plan to address the failings identified by the ombudsman and we have shared this with Luke’s family, together with evidence of its implementation.
“Our progress in delivering the recommendations of the Independent Review of Children’s Cardiac Services in Bristol is reported in the public meetings of the trust board.”