Overview
- The PHSO found the 45-year-old, referred for IV antibiotics in November 2022, waited roughly 34 hours at Bassetlaw Hospital before receiving the correct drug at half the proper dose.
- Doctors pursued an oral antibiotic after microbiology advice, the drug was unavailable, and the ombudsman said further advice should have been sought to expedite IV treatment.
- A second IV dose was also delayed, by which time the patient had become septic, and he died a week later.
- The man had Alexander disease, used a permanent catheter, and faced communication challenges; his mother’s warnings were reportedly dismissed and she was not told he had not received antibiotics.
- Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals apologized, agreed to a financial remedy and an action plan, and said immediate steps were taken to strengthen antibiotic prescribing and escalation, as the PHSO noted sepsis complaints have more than doubled in five years.