A patient who had spent months in hospital due to a medical error received anonymous letters alleging safety concerns at the unit treating her.
Marilyn Smith was diagnosed with tetanus after being discharged after being treated for a leg injury at Hinchingbrooke Hospital in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire.
She said the hospital had not checked that she had not been vaccinated.
The NHS Trust, which runs the hospital, said it has apologized to her.
Ms Smith, 75, injured her leg in a fall in her garden in Huntingdon in September 2021.
She said she was not asked about her tetanus vaccination status and was discharged from Hinchingbrooke without a booster shot.
The NHS vaccination guide, known as The Green Book, states that anyone born before 1961 must be asked about it and given a booster if needed.
A few days later, she woke up with trismus, commonly known as lockjaw, and unable to open her mouth – a symptom of tetanus, which only catches a handful of people in the UK each year.
Ms Smith said: “I tried to brush my teeth but I couldn’t get a toothbrush in my mouth.
“It was horrific — it pulled and tightened like someone had put a band around my jaw.”
She then spent more than 120 days in hospital in Hinchingbrooke and then Peterborough as her condition deteriorated and required her to be transferred to intensive care, placed in an induced coma and intubated.
She said she had trouble walking now.
“Before, I was taking care of my grandchildren, playing football with them and everything,” she said.
A report released by the North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust, which operates Hinchingbrooke, described “shortcomings” in the care given to Ms Smith and that the hospital “could do better” with “several failed opportunities to confirm Ms Smith’s current tetanus status”. .
She received the first anonymous letter, which claimed to be from “a group of current and former emergency room workers in Hinchingbrooke,” in the mail in January after two weeks of returning home from the hospital.
“I wasn’t a letter to myself, I was a letter about me,” Ms. Smith said.
It described alleged deficiencies in their care.
Two other letters made similar claims and the third arrived at her home the same day, on February 24 the BBC also received one which included Ms Smith’s name and address and detailed the alleged failures in her first aid .
That letter said “the Trust has ignored patient safety concerns” and included other allegations relating to one individual.
A fourth letter arrived at Mrs Smith’s home on Saturday.
Ms Smith described the letters as “shock”.
“You’re like ‘wow, who sent that?’; you’re like, ‘whoa, wait a minute, how many other people have suffered like that?'” she said.
She has since hired a lawyer to look at her case because, as she said, she didn’t want anyone else to suffer like she did.
In 2018, the husband of a patient at West Suffolk Hospital in Bury St Edmunds received an anonymous letter describing failures in the care of his late wife after she was given the wrong IV drip after being admitted with a perforated bowel was.
The West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust was criticized in a later report after asking staff for fingerprint and handwriting samples when searching for the letter writer.
Tim Deeming, of the Tees law firm, which represents Ms Smith, said he also had concerns about Hinchingbrooke’s whistleblowing policy.
“The anonymous letters from A&E staff, both past and present, are deeply concerning, particularly given that they highlight the tragic outcomes of other affected patients and that staff state that over the past five years raised concerns.” he said.
He said that “an urgent confirmation is needed from the Trust’s leadership on these allegations, all investigations and the general culture so that effective improvements can be embedded where needed.”
- Tetanus is very rare in the UK
- In 2020, there were only seven cases, two of which were fatal, and the cases mostly affect people born before 1961, when routine childhood vaccination began
- Five doses of vaccine provide long-term protection, although routine booster shots every 10 years are no longer recommended
- Tetanus bacteria are found in the soil and manure of animals such as horses and cows and enter the body through a wound
- Other symptoms include muscle spasms, difficulty breathing, high temperature, sweating, and a fast heartbeat
The North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust confirmed it had received a similar letter in October, but after an investigation concluded there was no substance to the patient safety allegations.
In a statement, Caroline Walker, chief executive of the trust, said they would meet Ms Smith this week to discuss her investigation and report.
“I want to apologize to Marilyn Smith for not identifying her condition as quickly as we should have,” she said.
“Due to the rarity and severity of [her] A clinical investigation was conducted to verify the level of care experienced.
“We appreciate that our employees feel empowered to raise concerns.
“We’ve worked hard to create an environment where people can speak their minds with confidence, with the support of our Freedom To Speak Up Guardian.
“When problems arise, we take action to investigate and learn from them.
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