Yorkshire woman “left to suffer for a year” awarded £135,000 by a hospital trust

Antoinette France was left “depressed and in pain” for a year after her fractured thigh bone went undiagnosed.

Antoinette France was left “depressed and in pain” for a year.

A Yorkshire mum-of-two who was left “depressed and in pain” for a year after medics did not diagnose her broken thigh bone has been awarded £135,000 in damages.

Antoinette France was left feeling "trapped and isolated" and required counselling to cope because of her undiagnosed injury. She was left with pain in both hips and knees, and she developed a limp as one of her legs was shorter than the other.

Aids and appliances also had to be fitted in her home because of her mobility issues. Antoinette, who was sixty-four at the time, fell in January 2017 while walking her dog. She was taken to the A&E Department at Pinderfields Hospital in Wakefield.

She underwent a revision hip replacement shortly afterwards and was transferred to The Mid Yorkshire Trust Rehabilitation Unit as an inpatient for physiotherapy. But she fell again while receiving treatment and fractured her femur.

An ambulance took her back to Pinderfields, where only her left knee was X-Rayed - not her thigh bone - and she was returned to the rehabilitation unit. The following month another X-Ray was taken, this time of her femur. Still, it was "negligently reported as showing no change," according to medical experts consulted as part of her claim against the trust.

In March 2017, Antoinette was discharged and told to continue with her physiotherapy at home. When the X-Ray was later re-examined, it revealed she had suffered a fracture.

Antoinette said her treatment left her “wanting answers.”

Antoinette, who has since become a grandma, said she was forced to rehome her dog after returning home because she could not leave her upstairs flat. "I used to be a person who went on long walks, but I was left using crutches; even now, I can’t walk far and have to use a wheelchair," she said. "The way I was treated was disgusting.

"I came out of hospital incredibly depressed; I couldn’t drive, walk or get outside. I was housebound, a burden and felt like an old lady. I was in a bad place. I felt life was over."

Antoinette said her treatment left her "wanting answers", and she launched a legal case against the trust which Hudgell Solicitors led. She claimed her fracture was left to heal by itself. She also waited a year before undergoing another hip stem replacement operation at a special orthopaedic department at Sheffield Hospital.

“I wanted to know why I was treated the way I was," she said. "I kept telling people I was in pain, but it was ignored; I felt like I was treated like a stupid person in their sixties. There was a catalogue of errors.

"It was never about the money. It was about finding out why and how it happened. I have had an apology from the trust, and I have been told they are changing the way they do things.

"Now, I need to move forward and think about the future. I will need a motorised scooter because I still cannot walk far without experiencing pain and an adjustable bed. I do not want to be a burden, but I have bounced back - that is me!"

Elizabeth Maliakal, the associate solicitor in clinical negligence at Hudgell Solicitors who supported Antoinette in bringing her claim, said: "The standard of treatment afforded to my client fell below an acceptable level."

Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust awarded the mum-of-two £135,000 in an out-of-court settlement. The trust also launched a “serious incident review” to determine what went wrong and why.

It admitted that "mistakes were made on several levels" and that "clear lessons to be learnt." Following an investigation, the trust said it would look to improve communications between departments and patients nursing. It added medical and therapy notes would be kept together and eventually be integrated into an electronic system.

David Melia, director of nursing and quality at Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust, said: "We offer our sincere apologies and sympathy to Ms France. We appreciate that this has been a very distressing experience for her over a prolonged period.

"The trust undertook a complaint investigation in 2017 to find out what went wrong. We recognised that errors occurred, and the treatment fell below the standard we aim to supply and to which Ms France was entitled. We are deeply saddened to hear of the impact this has had on her.

"The trust is committed to providing the best care we can to our patients and making improvements when this falls short. We took the learnings from the investigation into Ms France's complaint and introduced changes to our practices."