Hospital neglect victim's dad calls for charges

The family of a man whose death was deemed to have been partly caused by hospital neglect has said criminal charges should be re-considered against two nurses who treated him.

Matthew Charnock, who had been hit on the head with a wheel brace by his partner's estranged husband, was taken to Whiston Hospital on Merseyside but later discharged. He died three days later.

Earlier this month, and following an eight-year campaign by his family, a coroner ruled the 35-year-old's death in March 2016 was due to "unlawful killing, contributed to by neglect".

Whiston Hospital said it offered its condolences to Mr Charnock’s family for their loss and again offered sincere apologies for failings in his care.

When Stephen Cotterill came home to the property he was still sharing with his estranged wife in Widnes, Cheshire, on 13 March 2016 he found her eating a takeaway with Mr Charnock.

Cotterill was jailed for seven years after being convicted at Liverpool Crown Court of manslaughter.

Mr Charnock died from a fractured skull and sepsis.

Terry and Jean Charnock, from Sale in Greater Manchester, still had many questions about what had happened to their son, though, and pressed for the original inquest to be reopened.

The coroner expressed concerns that:

• Whiston Hospital's record keeping and observations had been inadequate
• The patient had wrongly been recorded as being alert
• A CT scan had not been requested for him
• Mr Charnock had not been referred to a doctor

While Terry Charnock said his family "were elated" by the new inquest's conclusions, "the elation soon dies because you come home to normality [and] he's not coming back home".

Now Mr and Mrs Charnock are calling for the reconsideration of criminal charges against two nurses who treated him - triage nurse Stephanie Keelan and nurse practitioner Paul O'Brien.

Cheshire Police spoke to Mr O'Brien at the time but prosecutors decided there was not enough evidence for a realistic prospect of conviction against any individual.

The Crown Prosecution Service said it would carefully consider any communication it received from Matthew Charnock’s family.

The nursing regulator said it would review its decision not to take any disciplinary proceedings against the two nurses.

The Nursing and Midwifery Council told BBC North West Tonight: "We made the decision not to investigate Mr O'Brien and Ms Keelan further - based on the information available to us at the time.

"We are aware of the coroner's recent findings and will consider whether those findings mean we need to take regulatory action."

Whiston Hospital said "a thorough investigation" had been carried out following Mr Charnock’s death and its findings shared with his family.

"Lessons have been learned and robust action taken to ensure a tragic incident like this does not happen again," the hospital's statement added.

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