Hospital cover to get boost

Saturday 23rd May 2009, 10:10AM BST.

Hospital chiefs in Shropshire are set to bolster night cover following the death of a 63-year-old man at the Princess Royal Hospital in Telford.

Shrewsbury and Telford Hospitals NHS Trust is introducing a system known as Hospital at Night.

Details of the system came to light following an inquest on Leslie Needle, of Springfield, Nordley, near Bridgnorth.

He died in the Princess Royal’s intermediate care area in the early hours of July 18, 2006, from haemorrhaging and peritonitis, caused by perforated diverticular disease following a bowel operation.

The Telford inquest heard he had been seen by three doctors in one hour the night before his death, but none diagnosed he was bleeding internally. A jury returned a narrative verdict.

Andy Rogers, spokesman for Shrewsbury and Telford Hospitals NHS Trust, said the scheme, to be introduced in August, aimed to ensure “hospitals are well placed to respond to the unpredictable demand that they can face overnight”.

View more: Princess Royal Hospital news, Royal Shrewsbury Hospital news.