CARE QUALITY COMMISSION PROSECUTES ESSEX NHS TRUST OVER TWO DEATHS

The Care Quality Commission has brought three charges against Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust over the care of Zadie Ajetunmobi and Selina Samarina, who died after treatment at Broomfield Hospital in Essex. Court documents allege that their care and treatment were “not provided in a safe way”. Two charges concern Zadie and one concerns Selina under the Health and Social Care Act. The trust, which runs the hospital, is expected to enter pleas at Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court on 3 December.

Zadie arrived at Broomfield Hospital on 10 November 2022 with a temperature of 40C and died less than 10 hours later after a cardiac arrest. An inquest heard that she waited more than seven hours for intravenous antibiotics. A post-mortem examination found that complications associated with sepsis caused her death. Senior coroner Lincoln Brookes ruled that, had staff followed the sepsis pathway immediately, “her death would likely have been prevented”. Zadie’s parents, Theo and Rhiannon, said they learnt about the delay in treatment two months after her death.

Selina arrived at Broomfield Hospital on 7 April with a fever and rash and received an urgent referral, which would normally mean an examination by a senior doctor within an hour. A junior doctor saw her amid staffing issues, and a senior doctor became available two and a half hours later, after staff had sent Selina home. She returned to hospital two days later and died. An inquest found that sepsis and pneumonia caused her death. Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust said it was “working closely” with investigators.