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20
Dec 2023
Call for lessons to be learned after Ripon mum dies from sepsis at Harrogate hospital
A Ripon family has called for lessons to be learned after a mother died from sepsis at Harrogate District Hospital.
Angela Laybourn was admitted to the hospital on January 17, 2022, after suffering from lack of appetite and dehydration for around a week.
Blood tests showed she had metabolic acidosis – a build-up of acid in the body. However, this was not documented when she was assessed on a ward, an NHS investigation found.
Ms Laybourn was wrongly sent home three days after being admitted. However, she was readmitted to Harrogate hospital on January 22. She was incoherent and disorientated.
Further blood tests indicating metabolic acidosis weren’t acted upon. She died aged 62 in the early hours of January 24.
Following Angela’s death, husband David, instructed medical negligence lawyers at Irwin Mitchell to investigate his wife’s care under Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust.
David, aged 64, has now joined his legal team at Irwin Mitchell in calling for lessons to be learned.
Megan Walker, the specialist medical negligence lawyer at Irwin Mitchell representing David, said:
Call for lessons to be learned
Ms Laybourn, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1999 and was paralysed from the neck down, died in the early hours of 24 January, 2022, after suffering a cardiac arrest.
Her cause of death was sepsis and metabolic acidosis caused by kidney stones.
She had a history of kidney stones. In December 2021 she underwent surgery to try and remove them. However, doctors were unable to remove all of the stones because of the complexity of the procedure.
Following legal submissions by Irwin Mitchell, the trust admitted that there was a failure to recognise and treat metabolic acidosis following her first admission on January 17. She shouldn’t have been discharged on 20 January, the trust acknowledged.
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An internal investigation report by the hospital trust into Angela’s care identified a total of 18 key findings, root causes and contributory factors into her care.
These included that blood tests that showed metabolic acidosis following her initial hospital admission were not documented when Angela was assessed on a ward.
Mr Laybourn, who was Angela’s carer for 15 years, added:
Trust apologises
Dr Jacqueline Andrews, executive medical director at Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust, said:
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