A Shackerstone woman has claimed that a series of "failings" in her mother's care "robbed" her of the chance to say goodbye and has left her unable to bury her mum.

Helen Judges said she would not wish her "horrendous" experiences with George Eliot hospital "on [her] worst enemy", and hoped that speaking publicly about her ordeal would mean that no one else would have to go through it.

Her mum, Anne Crane, was admitted to the Nuneaton hospital on Saturday, January 4, with a suspected heart attack, and died on the morning of Wednesday, January 8. The night before her death, Mrs Crane was moved between wards but the family was not told, despite Ms Judges requesting to be contacted if anything changed with her mum's care. Had she known her mum had been moved, Ms Judges said, she would have visited her mother that morning instead of going to work, and, as a result, would have been with her when she passed away.

It then took the hospital more than three weeks to sign the paperwork needed to release Mrs Crane's body, despite the Shackerstone family being told on multiple occasions that someone was going to do it, Ms Judges claimed. On one occasion, hospital staff said the person due to sign the forms "forgot" to do so, according to Ms Judges. Because of the delays, the family has still not been able to lay Mrs Crane to rest.

George Eliot refused to answer a series of questions put to it by the Local Democracy Reporting Service regarding the alleged failings in its handling of Mrs Crane's situation, saying it could not comment on individual cases.

Managing director Dr Catherine Free said, however, that patient care was the hospital's "number one priority" and concerns around it were "always investigated thoroughly".

'Robbed of the chance to be with mum at the end'

Mrs Crane was moved between wards late on the night before she died. Despite Ms Judges having asked the hospital when she left on the Tuesday night to contact her if there were any changes overnight, the family was not told of the move.

Ms Judges said she still does not know why her mum was moved, including whether this was because of a deterioration in her mother's condition overnight. However, she said, she had specifically asked to be alerted if anything changed regarding her mum's care, and added that she considered the move to constitute such a change. Ms Judges said she would not have gone to work that morning if she had known, but would have checked on her mum first thing.

Instead, shortly before 8am on the Wednesday, Ms Judges said, she received a call from the hospital telling her to get there as quickly as she could. She was working in Hinckley at the time and had to battle rush-hour traffic to get to Nuneaton.

She claimed that by that point she had still not been told that her mum had been moved, so when she arrived at the hospital around 30 minutes later, she went to the wrong ward and found someone else in the bay her mum had been in. Hospital staff showed her to the correct ward, but by the time she got there, it was too late, said Ms Judges. She was taken into a side room and told her mum had passed away shortly before she arrived.

Ms Judges said: "I just feel like their actions have robbed me from being with my mum when she passed."

Staff 'forget' to sign paperwork

Ms Judges claimed she then experienced delay after delay when it came to staff signing the paperwork needed to release her mum's body so she could be buried. She claimed she was initially told it would take three to five days for that to be done.

However, over the next three weeks she received a run of excuses as to why it had not happened, she claimed. She was first told the person sent to sign the paperwork could not do so because she had only been involved in Mrs Crane's care at the start of her hospital stay, she claimed. Then, two more members of staff were unable to fill it out, one because they were working nights and the other because they were "not allowed off the ward", Ms Judges claimed.

Almost three weeks on, she was told someone would be signing "shortly" – only for her to be phoned back two days later to be told that that person had "forgotten", Ms Judges claimed. At that point, she got the Press involved.

She said: "I was so upset and frustrated at the same time. I just didn't know what to do."

Press involvement appeared to spur the hospital into action, and within 24 hours the paperwork had been completed. However, Ms Judges claimed it was filled in incorrectly and the registrar had to send it back to the hospital.

She said: "It's one of the hardest things you're going to go through. They should be looking out for you and doing everything they can to ease that for you. It's just been the most horrendous experience and I wouldn't even wish it on my worst enemy, what I've had to go through and how I've had to battle to get this form signed."

Ms Judges claimed the paperwork was finally filled in properly the following day.

"I've not been able to grieve because I've been so stressed," Ms Judges added. "I've not been able to lay my mum to rest. Her funeral is not until the end of February because of all this delay.

"That's nearly two months since she passed before she actually gets laid to rest because of what I've been put through." Ms Judges added that the fight to be able to bury her mum had taken a toll on her mental health, and that she had been prescribed medication to help address it.

She added that she knew her mum hated being in the hospital, and that that knowledge had made the delay even harder for her to cope with. Ms Judges said: "Every time she had to go into hospital, she used to cry because she hated hospitals that much. That's upset me as well, knowing that the one place that she hated, she was in.

"I know it's just her body, but, to me, that was my mum lying there in that hospital mortuary in the one place that she never ever wanted to be. That really hurt."

Unexpected cause of death brings further shock

When the paperwork was finally filled in by the hospital, Ms Judges said it delivered a new shock. Her mum's primary cause of death had been put down as hospital-related pneumonia – meaning she had become ill with it while in the hospital. Ms Judges said she had believed her mum was being treated for a suspected heart attack and that nobody had ever raised pneumonia with her before that point.

"That was never, ever, ever mentioned in all the times that I was sat by her bedside when she was there," Ms Judges claimed. "Not ever mentioned, not once."

"It was like being hit with a sledgehammer, really, because nobody had ever mentioned the word pneumonia to me," she added. "It was just a total shock, I never expected in a million years that she caught pneumonia in hospital and that was the primary cause of her death."

'An angel in disguise'

Mrs Crane was "straight-talking", "very blunt" and someone who would do "anything for anybody", her daughter said. "We always used to call her the fourth emergency service, because if anybody needed any help, she was just there," said Ms Judges.

"[She was always] running around after people, cooking for people, she always had the kids for me if I needed. She was like an angel, really, in disguise."

Ms Judges added that she hoped by speaking publicly about her alleged treatment by the hospital, it would stop another family going through the same. "I don't think people should be allowed to suffer like that when they've lost a loved one, whoever it may be, mum, dad, son, daughter, whatever, it's just not right.

"If I can get it out there, and try and make somebody accountable, or for them to stand up and learn from this… Somebody needs to change the way things are run there because it's just been appalling."

'Cannot comment on individual cases'

The LDRS approached George Eliot hospital for a comment on Mrs Crane's care and Ms Judges's claims about the hospital's handling of her mum's death. The LDRS also asked the hospital, which is used by many south Leicestershire residents, a series of questions over its handling of the case, including the reasons for the alleged lack of communication with the family and delays in the paperwork, and whether any changes would be implemented as a result.

The LDRS further asked what its bereavement policy was, and whether Ms Judges was supported in line with it. Regarding Mrs Crane's cause of death, the LDRS questioned the hospital on measures it has in place to prevent deaths from illnesses contracted in hospital and whether that policy was adhered to in Mrs Crane's case.

The hospital refused to respond to our questions. It further declined to offer any public apology to the family over their alleged treatment.

Dr Catherine Free, managing director for George Eliot Hospital NHS Trust, said: "We are not able to comment on individual cases. However, patient care is our number one priority and we always investigate thoroughly any concerns raised about the quality of care we provide."

Ms Judges told the LDRS she felt the hospital's lack of response to our questions was "disappointing" and "upsetting", but not surprising. She added: "They have made such a catalogue of very upsetting and unethical errors, they are trying to cover up, and this is unforgivable."

She claimed she had met with hospital management to discuss the alleged failings in her and her mum's case, and claimed that those she met acknowledged she had been "treated appallingly" and there was a "serious lack of communication and more staff training needed" in this case. The hospital did not respond when the LDRS asked it about those claims.