Conquest Hospital boss declares patient ‘dead’ in letter over lost file

Conquest Hospital, Hastings. SUS-150615-132748001

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A hospital boss who declared a patient was dead in a letter apologising for losing his medical records has said sorry.

Norah Trimmings, 61, of St Leonards, said her husband Robert, 68, is ‘very much alive and kicking’, despite a letter from East Sussex Healthcare Trust which referred to him as ‘the late’ Mr Trimmings four times.

Robert Trimmings was paralysed down his right side following a stroke and heart attack in 2013. Mrs Trimmings asked Conquest Hospital for his files in September 2014 but was told they were ‘missing’

“My suspicion is they destroyed the wrong file,” said Mrs Trimmings. “I wanted to have a look at his scan and the report about his heart.”

However, Mrs Trimmings said she ‘wasn’t going to let the matter drop’ and contacted Amber Rudd, MP for Hastings and Rye for help. On October 27, Ms Rudd received a letter from Richard Sunley, acting chief executive of the trust, which said: “I am very sorry that Mrs Trimmings remains unhappy with the trust’s efforts to locate her late husband’s medical records and apologise for any unnecessary distress.”

Mrs Trimmings said the trust had added ‘insult to injury by saying Robert was dead.

“I found this very upsetting because my husband is still very much alive and kicking it seems to me that because you are ‘deceased’ it doesn’t matter whether they find the file anyway and I find this a disgusting attitude to have from such a big organisation.”