1 week Ago
A man died after he was unable to get an urgent medical procedure because it is not available around the clock. Barry Myers suffered an ischaemic cerebral artery stroke and needed a mechanical thrombectomy. But an inquest heard he arrived at hospital outside of the hours when the procedure was able to be performed.
The 59-year-old died at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton on January 28, 2024. A mechanical thrombectomy is a procedure in which a blood clot is removed from the artery through a catheter. Read more: Woman died after machine malfunctioned during heart surgery Concerns have now been raised in a prevention of future deaths report about the lack of funding, which means patients at the University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust cannot receive a mechanical thrombectomy between 4pm and 8am.
“While it appears that Barry had failed to manage his anticoagulant medication, potentially resulting in his stroke, he could not have a mechanical thrombectomy as there was no service available outside of the operational hours of the department involved at University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust,” said assistant coroner Lisa Milner. “Further, there were missed opportunities to transfer Barry to another centre that were able to provide a mechanical thrombectomy in that time.” The report has been sent to NHS England and University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust.
The organisations have until May 29 to officially respond to the coroner’s concerns. An NHS spokesman said: “NHS England extends its deepest sympathies to the family and friends of Barry Myers. We are carefully considering the prevention of future deaths report sent to us by HM Coroner and will respond in due course.
” Professor Katie Urch, chief medical officer at University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We extend our deepest apologies and sympathies to Mr Myer’s family and friends. “We acknowledge the coroner’s report and are actively working to respond to the issues raised. We already deliver a mechanical thrombectomy service, but we absolutely understand the importance of extending the service to make it available 24/7 and so we are now working to recruit the highly specialist staff we need to achieve that goal.
“Whilst that recruitment takes place, we have made other arrangements to improve local services, and made connections with other hospitals in the wider region who may be able to offer this specialised service.”.
