On Monday 1st March 2010 the Belfast Health & Social Services Trust admitted negligence in respect of the care provided to Elizabeth Christina Conville. The patient, aged 79, suffered a fall at her home in Belfast in 2005. She was admitted to hospital in January. She died 7 months later. During the course of her initial admission to the Royal Victoria Hospital the patient developed a pressure sore on her left heel. Her health gradually deteriorated from that time until her death on the 14th August 2005. The pressure sore on her heel became gangrenous. Ultimately she began to suffer from septicaemia.
The family of the deceased approached Campbell Fitzpatrick Solicitors originally in and around August 2005. Patrick Mullarkey, Partner, was instructed to investigate the circumstances of the deceased’s treatment from the date of admission until the date of her death. We obtained access to the original medical notes and records and reviewed same. We recommended that a number of independent expert reports be commissioned. We obtained reports from a consultant orthopaedic surgeon, a consultant vascular surgeon and a specialist nurse in tissue viability. On the basis of these reports we considered that the family had adduced a strong case against the Belfast Health & Social Services Trust. In the circumstances we recommended proceedings. Proceedings were issued on the 19th December 2007 and the matter eventually came before a Court on the 1st March 2010. On the morning of the first day of the hearing the Trust admitted negligence in respect of the care provided to the deceased and offered settlement in the sum of £40,000 plus costs. That settlement was agreed.
In the course of proceedings we had argued that the Trust had failed to provide treatment and care to a standard which the deceased had a right to expect from the attending medical and nursing staff. As a consequence of inadequate care we argued that the Trust had caused or allowed irreversible tissue damage to the back of the deceased’s left heel. As a consequence of failing to make a proper assessment of the risk to the deceased of developing such a pressure sore, the Trust failed to take measures to prevent same. We also argued that there had been a delay in the initial treatment of the deceased’s fracture. Vascular management was also criticised. The case, as pleaded, was admitted on the morning of the hearing.