Ruth Thompson

1. Whilst the family and next of kin accepted that medical discharge from the Ospedale Monaldi and a decision for transfer was made on an assumption that the deceased was medically fit for transfer, the evidence revealed that:-

a. In fact, the deceased died within 16 days of her repatriation having survived post operatively for over a month in hospital in Italy; b. The assurances that the transfer team could speak English and communicate with the deceased were not met as in fact, the deceased was accompanied by a German clinician with limited English compounding an inadequate and insufficient handover to clinicians in the United Kingdom;

No proper or informed consent was obtained for the transfer as the evidence suggested that very little information as to the condition and care plan for the deceased had been communicated to the family;

On her transfer to the United Kingdom, clinicians within the Accident & Emergency Department at the Royal Bolton Hospital were only supplied with two A4 sheets of information from the Italian hospital, written in Italian which required the doctors to use “Google Translate” in an attempt to interpret that document. The documentation was inadequate and not fit for purpose in that it failed to note or provide basic handover information including:-

. Operative details;

. Intensive care treatment and observations;

. Ongoing prescribed medication;

. Recent blood test results;

. Identification of investigative procedures and their results; . Treatment and care plan following discharge;

Accordingly, the issue of the adequacy of communication of vital information to the deceased, her next of kin and treating clinicians in the United Kingdom following air ambulance transfer from abroad created delay and uncertainty in treatment and care.