Somewhere the NHS is going tragically wrong

Laura Randell, sister

The mother-of-one died last September after being told by Solihull Hospital she was suffering a panic attack brought on by news of a fatal crash involving her nephew.

Then, after being transferred to Birmingham's Heartlands Hospital, she was told she might have gallstones.

The family's solicitor, Louise Hunt, head of clinical negligence at law firm Russell, Jones and Walker, said Ms Parry had twice been allowed home.

"This is yet another example of this continuing problem in the NHS and an active, healthy 51-year-old is now dead as a result.

Campaign launch

"How many more people will die unnecessarily because standards of basic health care are just not good enough?"

Ms Parry's sister, Laura Randell, and her brother, Tom Parry, both of Acocks Green, are now mounting a campaign to change medical practices.

We very much regret this and apologised to the family of Ms Parry as soon as we became aware of the position

Hospital trust spokesman

They want the law changed so patients have the right to minimum treatments where there is any doubt over diagnosis.

Mrs Randell, a health care assistant at Solihull Hospital, said: "We know that if Jane had made more of a fuss, they would have given her a brain scan which would have revealed what was happening in her head.

"Was it the cost of a scan? Somewhere the NHS is going tragically wrong.

"We keep reading about cases like this. It has to stop."

In the two weeks before her death, Jane suffered vomiting, chest and abdominal pains and was given painkillers for a headache, Mrs Randell said.

After her second stay in hospital, she suffered a brain haemorrhage.

'Missed opportunity'

She was taken to Heartlands Hospital and died a week later at Birmingham's Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

The Birmingham Heartlands and Solihull NHS Trust said it had carried out a full investigation into the circumstances which led to Ms Parry's death.

A trust spokesman said: "This investigation revealed that an opportunity to diagnose a brain haemorrhage had been missed.

"We very much regret this and apologised to the family of Ms Parry as soon as we became aware of the position.

"We have taken a number of measures to ensure this is not repeated, including the development of specific guidelines for doctors on the management of patients with headaches."