Man's plea for answers after brother's death in Huddersfield Royal Infirmary

Peter Hammond believes his brother Anthony, who lived in the Clayton Heights area of Bradford, died of a suspected drug overdose while receiving treatment at Huddersfield Royal Infirmary.

He still has lingering questions over the circumstances surrounding his death and his concerns have been amplified over how long he and his family have had to wait for an inquest.

Huddersfield Royal Infirmary. Picture: Google Streetview

Father-of-five Anthony, 51, was initially admitted to Leeds General Infirmary in November 2019 with a spinal infection for which he had an operation.

He was then moved to Huddersfield on November 30, but died later that day.

Mr Hammond, 56, said he believes his brother purchased drugs on the 30th and possibly self-administered them whilst in hospital.

“Following his death, my wife and I travelled up to collect his belongings from hospital," he said.

“One of his possessions was a wheelchair - under the seat of the chair was a syringe containing liquid.

“Suspecting this to be drugs, I handed it to the office where the post-mortems are conducted."

He discovered text messages indicating his brother had been contacting dealers while in hospital and had handed his debit card over so money could be taken from his account. 

Mr Hammond believes his brother left the hospital for an hour on the day of his death and presumes that was when he collected the drugs.

He fears he may have injected them through the intravenous line from which he was receiving medication.

A complaint investigation report following Anthony’s death said his substance misuse status should have been ascertained with “appropriate and timely” documentation, which would have informed decision-making regarding the management of his midline cannula.

It said: "The current Trust policy regarding management of intravenous fluids and medication does not require a risk assessment regarding management of IV lines and infusions for patients with a history of previous or current drug misuse.

"The staff nurse who administered the first dose of IVAB recalls that this was given via an infusion pump (this is a medical device that enables fluids, medications or nutrients to be given at a predetermined rate usually into an intravenous vein). As there is no record of which pump was used we have not been able to establish if the locking mechanism that is used in an attempt to prevent tampering with the pump was activated or not.

"The midline catheter would have allowed access to a central port (opening) in which medications could be given as a bolus, (this is a specified quantity of a medication to be given at one time or at stated intervals usually via a syringe) or the attachment of an infusion giving set to administer intravenous infusions.

"In addition the 100ml infusion bag of 0.9% sodium chloride has an additive port in which medications (in Mr Hammond’s case an IVAB) are injected into.

"Both of these scenarios would enable a patient to tamper with and inject into a line (if they had access to a device such as a syringe and/or needle in their possession) whether an infusion pump was being used or not."

As the three-year anniversary of his brother's death looms ever closer, Mr Hammond feels there has been a lack of communication from the coroners’ office regarding the inquest.

Ellen Armistead, Chief Nurse at the Trust, said a full investigation was carried out into Mr Hammond’s death and the Trust responded to his family in respect of the issues they raised.

She added: “We offer our sincere condolences to Mr Hammond’s family. An inquest is pending, and we continue to assist HM Coroner with the inquiry, which remains ongoing.”

Detective Superintendent Heather Whoriskey of West Yorkshire Police said: “Due to the very high caseloads coroner’s officers are progressing we are aware there have been unfortunate delays in providing updates to families in some cases.

“This is of course regrettable, and staff are working hard to provide the necessary updates and support that bereaved families require at what can clearly be very traumatic times for them.”