Personal Injury Claims Bristol Blog

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has asked a senior NHS expert to look into concerns raised following the diagnosis of lung disease in ex-mineworkers.  The concerns were raised when the Union of Democratic Mineworkers paid for 2 redundant ex-miners to have CT scans of their lungs privately.  It was discovered that both miners from Nottinghamshire were suffering from pneumoconiosis despite previous X-rays in 2013 coming back marked as “satisfactory”.  The union is now calling for all former miners to get CT scans following the results of Ray Nunn and Crawford Hunter, both aged 51.

Services at Wye Valley NHS Trust Hereford Hospital have been found to be “inadequate” upon inspection by the Trust Development Authority in October 2014.  The inspection resulted in the hospital being placed in special measures, stating that particular concern was raised to medical care and emergency services.  In February of 2015 an improvement director was appointed by the Trust and a further announced inspection took place in September of 2015.  Yet a further inspection, this time unannounced, was carried out at the end of September and focus groups were held to discuss the areas of improvement required.

For over 150 years, district nurses have been supporting people in their own homes, keeping them out of hospital.  Official figures are showing, however, that the number of district nurses has fallen by 40% in the past 10 years.  The Health and Social Care Information Centre has reported that where a decade ago there were around 13000 district nurses working for the NHS in England, there are now fewer than 7500, many of whom are close to retirement age.  At the same time, the pressure on hospital accident and emergency departments is increasing, with attendances rising by approximately 50% in the past 10 years.  Nursing leaders are describing NHS community nursing in England as “lamentable”.

A man from Saughall Massie has been awarded £2million in compensation after hospital staff failed to save the sight in his one working eye. 39-year-old Colin Fortune lost the sight in his right eye in 2001 following a sports accident. However, when doctors failed to monitor and treat his left eye, he was left completely blind. The father-of-four had already undergone an operation at Royal Liverpool Hospital when his remaining sight began to worsen, however it was not enough and the staff at Arrowe Park Hospital failed to save his remaining sight.

A lorry driver has been awarded £225K in compensation after GPs on two separate occasions failed to identify Cauda Equina Syndrome. 54-year-old Martyn Wall injured his back five years ago while repositioning road signs from his lorry. When he attended his GP practice, however, he was told it was muscle strain and was prescribed basic pain killers. Due to the delay in treatment for the Cauda Equina Syndrome – a crippling back condition affecting the nerve roots of the spinal canal – Mr Wall has been left in constant pain and with irreversible nerve damage.