A health lecturer died from the effects of severe blood loss after a vein was ruptured during what should have been a routine keyhole operation at a privately-run medical centre in Bradford, an inquest heard.

Concerns were raised at the hearing at Halifax Town Hall yesterday that Eccleshill Independent Sector Treatment Centre, where the surgery was carried out, was not then properly equipped to deal with such complications.

John Hubley, 58, was admitted to the centre to have his gall bladder removed by keyhole surgery on January 22, 2007.

Consultant surgeon Jay Gokhale, who performed the operation, said it soon became clear that Dr Hubley’s gall bladder had become attached to other organs.

During an attempt to detach it, Dr Hubley’s portal vein was ruptured which caused a “torrential” blood flow. Mr Gokhale said he believed he had ordered some blood at 10am to be sent to the centre, which is run by private company Nations Healthcare but takes NHS cases.

The blood supplies did not arrive until more than an hour later but the inquest was told some theatre staff claimed not to have received a request for blood until 10.30am – 15 minutes after Dr Hubley’s vein was ruptured.

About 20 minutes before it arrived Mr Gokhale took the decision to perform open surgery.

He said: “I would have preferred to convert (to surgery) with blood already being infused to the patient.”

When asked how long it was before the blood arrived he said: “It felt like an eternity.”

Mr Gokhale packed the area with swabs that were available, but Dr Hubley, who was a principal lecturer in health promotion at Leeds Metropolitan University, deteriorated and died the following morning after he had been transferred to the intensive care unit at Bradford Royal Infirmary.

Deputy Assistant Coroner Paul Marks asked Mr Gokhale: “Would it be reasonable for an institution to consider every possibility and since haemorrhage is a probability it should have been provided for?”

Mr Gokhale replied: “Yes Sir.”

The surgeon was also asked whether he thought Dr Hubley, of West Park, Leeds, would have survived if the operation had been performed at BRI.

He replied: “I can say it would be more likely, but I cannot say it would be more likely than not.”

Dr Philip Batman, who performed a post-mortem examination on Dr Hubley, said: “I have never encountered a death as a result of a laparotic cholecystectomy.”

He gave the medical cause of death as iatrogenic (hospital induced) damage to the portal vein, haemorrhaging and hypovolaemic (loss of blood) shock.

The inquest was told the Eccleshill centre now keeps blood in a refrigerator on site.

The hearing continues.