A dad tragically died after a family holiday to Cyprus, where he drank bottled water, which led to a stomach bug.
Colin Greenway, 63, was on a trip to Peyia, Cyprus, with his wife Sue, 62, their children Ellen, 33, and Matthew, 26, and Sue’s mom Ann, 83. The dad enjoyed a dream trip to the idyllic holiday hotspot before returning to his home in Swaffham, Norfolk. The others stayed longer.
The football referee had been feeling unwell, so he headed to his doctors and was soon admitted to Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King’s Lynn. Here, it was discovered he had an infection called campylobacter. This is a bug associated with eating undercooked meat and seafood, or drinking untreated water.
However, a junior doctor mistakenly prescribed him only half the usual dosage of medication used to reduce the risk of blood clots. Colin was sent home when his blood test results improved. However, Colin later died of a pulmonary embolism four days later, on October 29, last year, when his daughter found his body.
During his hospital stay, his prescription was not checked by a senior clinician, consultant, or pharmacist. It was only when Sue, a retired medical practitioner, questioned whether he had been given the right dose that the mistake was discovered.
Sue said: "It was an absolute shambles, but my biggest concern is that had I not been a medical professional, none of this would have come to light. My kids called me and said, ‘I have terrible news—I found my dad dead in bed’. I screamed. I plunged into complete shock. My whole world ended when he died."
Sue had been ill herself with the bug and lost her dad, Gordon, 88, to natural causes in April 2022. Colin returned to the UK and stayed with his daughter Ellen after his hospital stay. He assured Sue she didn’t need to return to look after him.
She is devastated that she didn’t get to say goodbye to her 38-year-old husband. Sue said, “I never said goodbye. It’s heartbreaking. He was so quick-witted. He was very easy-going. He lived for football."
Sue decided to take her to the coroner after alarm bells rang after receiving the pathologist's report. Following an inquest into Colin’s death, a coroner warned further people could die if the hospital did not improve its approach.
In a report to prevent future occurrences of deaths, Coroner Yvonne Blake wrote: "It is the consultant doctor's responsibility to check what their junior, unsupervised doctors do at the weekend when a patient is admitted. This consultant did not speak to this junior doctor about the misprescribing or know what action - if any - had been taken about it. A senior nurse informed me that other drug errors have occurred since Mr Greenway died."
Yvonne said she was concerned that Colin received "no continuity of care" after being seen by three separate consultants over three days. She added: "While the consultants, three of whom saw Mr. Greenway, continue to refuse to accept responsibility for doctors prescribing, this situation continues."
She concluded that the junior doctor had made an incorrect prescription, even though he had clearly followed guidelines. She was concerned that the consultants had considered it the job of pharmacists to check for errors while only providing service three days a week. They were not "accepting responsibility" for monitoring junior doctors' prescriptions.
Govindan Raghuraman, acting medical director at the QEH, said: "On behalf of the Trust, I reiterate our sincere condolences to Mr. Greenway's family. We have reviewed Mr. Greenway's care in meticulous detail and carried out an internal investigation.
"The trust is developing an individualized action plan following Mr. Greenway's inquest. Specific actions are being developed to address coroner's concerns. We will formally update the coroner on the progress as soon as actions are finalized, who will, in turn, update Mr. Greenway's family." Sue has now moved in with her mom, Ann, to live with her, and she said they are "widows together".
