Salisbury hospital sorry for losing Covid patient's items

Bridget Dempsey, 93, died from Covid pneumonia on January 19.

When her daughter Maureen Edgington, 73, went to collect her possessions, staff told her they couldn't find them.

Last month, the wife of a man who died from Covid at the Odstock site also reported that personal items such as his phone and iPad had gone missing.

The hospital has since apologised for the loss, adding that sometimes the systems in place to manage patients' property "can fail".

'Her locker had nothing in it'

Mrs Dempsey, known as Bridie, was taken to hospital on Christmas Day after suffering a fall at her home in Jewell Close, Salisbury.

"The carer that went in that day found her at about 8.30 in the morning, mum banged her head and they called an ambulance," Maureen said.

"She was doing alright and they were going to move her to the occupational therapy ward but when they tested her for Covid, it came back positive so they kept her.

"When she got Covid I was told she was on end of life care.

"A week before she died she was put on a side ward on her own and I was allowed in with PPE and noticed her locker had nothing in it apart from her tablets."

Bridie Dempsey with her grandson Charles Edgington

Maureen quizzed the staff about her mum's belongings before reporting they had gone missing to the Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS).

"It was not a great deal of value, just a new set of pyjamas, a dressing gown and a purse with some money in it but people like their loved ones' belongings back," she said.

"The only thing is I didn't like to think that her stuff was sort of thrown away, shoved in a cupboard somewhere and no-one had bothered to look.

"I didn't feel too nice about that."

"I realise there's Covid and they're very, very busy but I was able to let them know every ward mum was taken to so they could check with the matron of each ward," she added.

Despite the "best efforts" of staff, her mum's items were never found. 

A previous incident

Eileen Page, 77, found herself in a similar situation after her husband John, 76, died from Covid on January 22.

His personal items, including a mobile phone likely to contain farewell messages for his family, were lost in the Radnor Ward.

After hearing about Eileen's experience, who came forward to issue an appeal, Maureen decided to speak up to raise awareness of what happened to her mum's items.

"I would like to think it's just gone astray in these busy times, put in a cupboard with other stuff.

"I would hate to think someone is taking these things using the fact everyone is busy to make something out of it," she said.

'Incredibly sorry'

Judy Dyos, Director of Nursing at Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust, has apologised for the loss.

She said: "I am incredibly sorry about the loss of any patient's property and I fully understand the anguish this can cause to loved ones when the patient has sadly died.

"We have systems in place to manage the property of deceased patients but from time to time these systems can fail and I am truly sorry that in this case, in spite of the best efforts of the whole team, we have been unable to locate the missing items.

"We look to improve our levels of care and service every day and in order to help us I encourage anyone who feels we have fallen short of the expected high standards to contact our PALS team."

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