Inquiry found lapse in standards at St James’s University Hospital, Leeds

Last night, a spokesman for St James’s University Hospital, Leeds, said an internal investigation had revealed that some aspects of Christine Johnson’s care were not up to scratch, but stressed they did not play a part in her death.

The hospital said lessons had been learned after the death of the 58-year-old unemployed cleaner last April following surgery for suspected pancreatic cancer.

She had undergone an operation less than six months after seeing her GP about a persistent cough. But after her laparscopic distal pancreatectomy and splenectomy, it was discovered the suspected tumour was a cyst and Mrs Johnson was then “desperately unfortunate” to develop a series of complications, which led to the amputation of part of her right leg and ultimately her death.

At an inquest into Mrs Johnson’s death on Wednesday, her family expressed concern about the care she had received.

They included problems with nursing notes and a failure to tell Mrs Johnson’s husband she had been moved to an intensive care unit.

Coroner David Hinchliff recorded a narrative verdict, saying Mrs Johnson’s death was caused by “multi-organ failure due to pancreatic leak which was a complication of the original procedure to remove the pancreatic mass”.

A Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust spokesman said: “The hospital has already expressed its sincere condolences to the family of Mrs Johnson and fully understands their distress. In addition to the matters considered by the inquest, an internal investigation was carried out into concerns raised by the family, and the findings were subsequently shared with them.

“This regrettably identified aspects of care which, although not linked to Mrs Johnson’s death, were below the standard we aim to provide. These related to issues including documentation, ward processes and communication."

• Read the full story in Friday's T&A