Hospital plan after pensioner's 'sub-optimal' care

A hospital trust has said it will use a new system to flag patients who suffer concerning weight loss after a 97-year-old patient died after "sub-optimal care" there.

June Violet Findlay fell at home, where she lived with assistance from carers and family, on 23 October 2024 and was taken to Frimley Park Hospital in Frimley by ambulance.

Following surgery on her hip, she was transferred to Heathlands rehabilitation unit in Bracknell on 6 November but lost at least 5.3kg (0.8 stone). She died on 11 December at Thames Hospice in Maidenhead.

Frimley Health NHS Trust's chief executive Lance McCarthy outlined changes it hopes to make over coming months to prevent a repeat of what happened.

Findlay died as a result of "natural causes contributed to by an accidental fall and on a background of sub-optimal care in hospital", Berkshire's assistant coroner Robert Simpson found in November.

The hospital said "swarm huddles" of staff across the service will be used to identify any "significant weight loss" suffered by a patient.

"Immediately after an incident is identified, the multidisciplinary staff [will] 'swarm' to the ward to quickly analyse what happened and how it happened and decide what needs to be done to reduce risk," McCarthy said.

Any patients who suffered "significant weight loss…will be escalated to the ward matron, who will ensure that a full swarm review including dieticians is undertaken and appropriate actions are taken and clearly documented," he added.