Missed Isle of Wight nurse visits 'reduced' after death

An NHS trust has said it has reduced the number of missed home visits by nurses, after a missed appointment caused the death of a patient.

Thomas Higgins, 96, died after falling at his home on the Isle of Wight in November 2015.

He slipped in fluid from his legs after a nurse forgot to attend to change his bandages, an inquest heard in 2016.

Isle of Wight NHS Trust said it missed 11 patients in the year to April, compared with 10-a-month previously.

Mr Higgins was found dead from a broken neck at his home in Binstead on 7 November.

Isle of Wight Coroner Caroline Sumeray found a "causational link" between his death and the missed appointment the day before.

At the inquest, she concluded: "The Isle of Wight NHS Trust did not have a database in place which was fit for purpose. There was no way of picking up missed appointments."

In response to a BBC Freedom of Information request, Isle of Wight NHS Trust said it still did not record all failures to attend patients.

It said: "At present whilst we collect data for completed visits, no access visits and referrals in, there is not a record for missed visits.

"Where a visit is missed, and noted through escalation via the patient or a care home, this is recorded."

The trust's head of nursing, Jenni Edgington, said the 11 recorded missed appointments included instances of "confusion" by patients and one where a GP made a late referral.

Ms Edgington said a new electronic appointments system had "massively improved the quality of the patient record" since its introduction in November 2017.

"All of the visits are checked on a daily basis by a caseload manager," she said.