The family of a man who died at St Andrew’s Hospital have called for a public inquiry over why a watchdog failed to investigate his and three other deaths on the same ward.
Bill Johnson died on the hospital’s Grafton Ward on May 31 2011, from complications of extreme constipation, which was caused by his medication, clozapine.
His was the fourth patient on Grafton Ward on antipsychotic medication to die in seven months and the charity that runs the hospital notified the Care Quality Commission (CQC) each time.
However, the watchdog chose not to investigate any possible links, and Mr Johnson died a month after the third death was reported.
Mark McGhee, partner of Fentons Solicitors, which is representing Mr Johnson’s parents, said : “Nothing that I have read or been told to date gives me any reason to believe that in the case of these four deaths, there has been any appropriate or adequate public scrutiny by the CQC or indeed any other non-judicial body.
“In the case of William Johnson’s death, the actions of the CQC – or lack thereof – have done nothing but fuel the general public perception that, as a statutory body, they are simply not fit for purpose.”
Following allegations at Mr Johnson’s inquest of a link between the deaths, the office of Northamptonshire coroner, Anne Pember, said she would now review the three previous deaths individually.
But no independent body has yet looked into the possibility of links between all four.
St Andrew’s Healthcare own ‘Grafton Report’ investigation found that only Mr Johnson died of an obstructed bowel and therefore the four deaths were not connected.
And the CQC said this week it did not believe it needed to launch any investigation.
A spokeswoman said: “The CQC was aware of the service’s own reviews following the deaths and, following a meeting with the provider in 2011, we wrote asking for information about their clinical governance and assurance processes with regard to how natural-cause deaths are identified and investigated.”
The CQC said it would continue to conduct unannounced inspections of St Andrew’s. Mr McGhee said: “Four deaths over a seven-month period where there is a potential contributory cause linking the deaths has to be exceptional, grave and serious, and as such demands a complete inquiry of the most public nature.”