ongoing probe into failings at the trust’s breast cancer services, with more than 1,500 patient records under review and calls being made for urgent reforms.<\/a>\n<\/p>\n\n The man, who wishes to remain anonymous, said he was \u201cdevastated and confused\u201d as he could not understand how his ankle had deteriorated so badly.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cThis has been life-changing for me\u201d, he said.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI struggled with the changes and no longer being able to do the things I could do before and the new way I would have to live my life.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI\u2019ve also suffered from phantom limb syndrome, where I feel pain as if my leg is still there.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cMy life can never be the same and I have struggled with the mental impact it has had on me.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cIt has been difficult to comprehend and come to terms with. I sometimes sit and feel sorry for myself as I now find life so hard.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
Trust ‘determined to learn’ and has ‘taken steps’<\/p>\n
\n Hudgell Solicitors, which represented the man, argued that fixation surgery should have been carried out on his first admission to hospital in May 2020.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n Solicitors say the trust told them this did not happen due to the Covid pandemic\u2019s strict guidelines, where the NHS was told to postpone non-urgent elective surgery.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n But the firm said he should also not have been placed in a moon boot due to the instability of his fracture.\n<\/p>\n
\n It also argued the trust failed to follow MRSA decolonisation guidance and to start antibiotic therapy when he was admitted in 2021, which could have avoided the spread of the infection.\n<\/p>\n
\n The trust said it has improved MRSA screening processes and increased screening rates where appropriate and is “determined to learn from this experience”.\n<\/p>\n
\n Solicitor Joshua Armstrong said he was disappointed that the trust \u201cdenied the allegations of negligence at the outset of the claim\u201d.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n But, he said: \u201cI am pleased that we managed to achieve a substantial out-of-court settlement for my Client, which he can now use to put in place care packages that he so desperately needs to improve his quality of life.\u201d\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n A spokesperson at the trust said: \u201cWe have carefully reviewed the circumstances surrounding this incident and have taken steps to strengthen patient safety and the care we provide.\n<\/p>\n
\n “We have improved our MRSA screening processes and increased screening rates where appropriate.\n<\/p>\n
\n “We have also strengthened our antimicrobial stewardship by improving the appropriate use of antibiotics, including the introduction of a specialist pharmacist dedicated to supporting antibiotic stewardship.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cEvery patient deserves safe, high-quality, compassionate care.\n<\/p>\n
\n “We are determined to learn from this experience, continue improving our services, and do everything we can to prevent similar incidents from happening in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The man, who wishes to remain anonymous, was taken to the University Hospital of North Durham in May…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":681665,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[102,2960,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-681664","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-health","tag-healthcare","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/681664","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=681664"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/681664\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/681665"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=681664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=681664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=681664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}