The inquest into the death of Sunil Sinha was heard by Kate Thomas at the Mid-Kent Coroners court on 1-2 February, 13 & 15 April 2016. it concluded that Sunil Sinha died on 6 February 2015 at Maidstone Hospital as a result of a known complication of a necessary medical procedure. Specifically he died due to an unrecognised haemorrage following surgery on 4 February 2015. 

 

In response the family have made the following statement:

 

"Sunil died over 14 months ago. The coroner has now reached her verdict and we welcome the end of a long chapter in the aftermath of his death. We would like to thank all those at Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust, particularly the nursing staff, who have involved us in their efforts to prevent a further tragedy like Sunil’s death and provided much needed openness and sympathy over the last year.

The coroner confirmed the pathologist’s conclusion from the post mortem examination that Sunil had bled to death in Maidstone Hospital, in the care of Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust. During the inquest a number of failings were identified in the care provided in the run-up to Sunil’s death. These included the collection and recording of vital patient information; communication within and between teams of doctors and nurses; the patient mix and staffing ratios in the surgical ward where Sunil was placed; and awareness of and compliance with the Trust’s policies and care plans. It must be of concern that so many failings were identified in a single patient’s care and over only a few days.

At the inquest the Trust provided information about some steps that they are taking to prevent these failures occurring again and as a family we welcome the work that is being done. The challenge now is to make sure that these measures are fully implemented and that the lessons learnt are shared across the Trust and to other hospitals throughout the UK. There are other areas in which improvement is also needed, including the collection of pre-operative information; the fragmented approach to patient care; and training and support for temporary staff.

The inquest has answered some of the questions around Sunil’s death, but many remain. It is unfortunate that we were unable to hear evidence from some of the key medical staff responsible for Sunil’s care overnight. Dr Belusica was the locum Senior House Officer responsible for Sunil’s care on both nights that Sunil spent in Maidstone Hospital. He is a doctor about whom serious questions have been raised and who was subject of a BBC radio documentary in November. We were also unable to hear from the F1 junior doctor that was responsible for obtaining some of the crucial test results. We will never know what actually happened on the night leading up to Sunil’s death, and we are left asking how could he bleed to death, losing almost half of his blood volume, on a hospital ward without it being detected?

Sunil was a wonderful man, full of life and energy, and his loss is a huge blow to his family, friends and work colleagues around the world. This is a death that should not have happened. We have lost a husband and a father, but the crucial thing now is to make sure that no one else needlessly loses their loved ones. We look forward to working with Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust to that end.

 

Clare Sinha

Sahil Sinha

Priya Sinha

19th April 2016"