'hospital's Neglect In My Son's Death Has Ripped Our Hearts Out'

Peter Dervin had spent each time by his son's broadside successful Broomfield Hospital earlier he decided to get dinner.

He pleaded pinch unit astatine nan Essex installation not to time off his eldest child, Greg, unsocial successful his absence.

"They almost laughed astatine maine and said, 'This is what we do. We're nurses and we look aft patients'," Dervin recalls.

Greg had been fixed lorazepam, an worry supplier flagged by clinicians arsenic leaving him prone to becoming unsteady and agitated.

When his dada returned to nan ward a short while later, Greg was successful a captious condition.

Left unsocial successful his room, nan 35-year-old had fallen complete and deed his caput connected a portion of equipment, causing a catastrophic encephalon injury.

Greg, a father, structural technologist and Arsenal instrumentality from Roxwell, adjacent Chelmsford, died a week later, connected 10 May 2024.

"Greg was my first boy and nan personification who made maine locomotion taller and beryllium a bully person," says Dervin, who lives successful Broomfield, adjacent Chelmsford.

"He was going to beryllium an astonishing dad. It didn't move retired that measurement and we're each sad because of that."

Greg was being treated for a bosom rumor brought connected by what his family branded "mismanagement" of his Crohn's disease.

He was transferred from a London infirmary to Broomfield connected 23 April 2024 and had been connected way to beryllium discharged aft almost 500 days of treatment.

Area coroner Sonia Hayes said he arrived successful Essex pinch a "significant, broad discharge plan" that included two-to-one care.

But those dedicated nurses were removed by Broomfield and replaced by a information guard, whose task was to watch Greg from extracurricular his room.

That guard, Olufemi Oyedeji, was not permitted to make objective interventions and truthful could not thief Greg – contempt having seen him autumn galore times earlier his fatal plunge.

Those falls should person been referred to nan trust's falls squad but were not, nan inquest was told.

Hayes said it was a "gross failure" by nan infirmary to person decided Greg needed adjacent supervision but alternatively employment personification who could not fulfil nan role.

"He had to watch my boy autumn and dice done a doorway because he wasn't allowed successful nan room," Dervin said.

It was besides questioned astatine nan inquest whether a information defender was appropriate, considering Greg had been assaulted by 1 astatine a different hospital.

Hayes said galore of nan assessments astir Greg were "riddled pinch inaccuracies".

One stated he did not person a neurological deficit, contempt him spending much than 450 days astatine nan National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery successful London.

But possibly nan cardinal correction was unit failing to announcement Greg had "a very peculiar sensitivity to lorazepam".

On nan time of his autumn connected 3 May 2024, he had been fixed nan supplier up of a CT scan.

Dervin says he warned nan nurses: "We've been looking aft him for much than a twelvemonth successful infirmary and lorazepam has affected him massively each clip – look aft him."

When Greg's dada went to get his food, he told them to telephone him if location were immoderate problems.

He explains: "I came backmost a fewer hours later to find him successful furniture pinch a monolithic trim connected nan backmost of his caput and unconscious.

"That's nan past clip I ever said to him. It ripped my bosom out.

"If they hadn't said they would look aft him, I wouldn't person gone home. I would've stayed because I knew what lorazepam was for illustration for him."

'Shocked and disappointed'

During nan inquest, Hayes accused nan infirmary spot of intentionally withholding cardinal accusation from her.

Instead, whoever prepared nan hospital's grounds for nan inquest had not clicked connected drop-down boxes online to uncover it.

Hayes said she was "shocked and disappointed". The hospital's lawyer said it was "unacceptable" – but denied it was intentional.

"The process has been horrendous, each they've done is not beryllium honorable pinch us," Dervin says.

He claims infirmary leaders denied nan family bereavement support because Greg died astatine Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, wherever he was transferred aft nan fall.

"When your boy has conscionable died, for a infirmary to opportunity 'We don't beryllium you a work of attraction astatine all' is conscionable nan worst," Dervin adds.

Greg was conscionable astir to commencement an engineering consultancy erstwhile he went into hospital.

Described by his dada arsenic "a bully person", he loved spending clip pinch his younger brothers

Dervin continues: "It feels for illustration something's missing, and that's a monolithic hole. If this was nan only kid I had, I'd find it difficult to aftermath up successful nan morning."

The family dream lessons will beryllium learned truthful no-one other has to acquisition what they person gone through.

"People spell into infirmary and immoderate group die. People get sick and die," Dervin says.

"But group shouldn't spell into infirmary and not beryllium cared about."

The infirmary spot said Dervin's lawsuit was "particularly complex" and uncovering each nan grounds had been challenging.

Sharon McNally, its main nursing officer, said: "We'd for illustration to reiterate our condolences to Mr Dervin's family, who person been kept regularly updated connected nan advancement of our investigation throughout.

"A afloat multi-disciplinary reappraisal was completed, and learning and improvements person been made to thief trim nan early chance of falls pinch harm."