Heartlands Hospital staff given more training after malaria death

Feb 10 2009 by Paul Suart, Birmingham Mail

HEARTLANDS Hospital boss said extra training on malaria has been given to staff after a man died of the disease because doctors were slow in detecting it.

Richard Clayton, aged 45, of Whittington Oval, Stechford, died in Heartlands Hospital on January 29, last year, from multiple organ failure after doctors at the hospital and its out-of-hours emergency helpline service Badger repeatedly misdiagnosed him as having food poisoning.

Despite asking for a blood test on numerous occasions and airing his own concerns at having contracted malaria while on holiday in Gambia, Mr Clayton was not immediately offered a test to eliminate malaria.

During an inquest last week into Mr Clayton’s death, Dr Christopher Ellis, a senior physician at Heartlands, said the former street cleaner’s chances of a full recovery would have been greatly improved had he been tested on his first approach to the hospital – four days before he actually received one.

Hospital director Lisa Dunn said a full investigation was undertaken and added: “Lessons have been learned, including additional training for staff.”