Prevention of Future Deaths reports · 2020

Christine Forbes

Regulation 28 report to prevent future deaths, reference 2020-0181, written 23 Sep 2020. A coroner writes one of these when an inquest reveals a risk that could cause further deaths unless something changes.

Date of report23 Sep 2020
Reference2020-0181
DeceasedChristine Forbes
CoronerEmma Serrano
Coroner areaDerby and Derbyshire
CategoryCommunity health care
Sourcejudiciary.uk record · original PDF
Responses published1

The report

Text extracted from the PDF text layer. Reproduced verbatim, including the scan's own layout.

REGULATION 28:  REPORT TO PREVENT FUTURE DEATHS  

REGULATION 28 REPORT TO PREVENT FUTURE DEATHS 

THIS REPORT IS BEING SENT TO: 

1.  Clinical Commissioning Groups (“CCG”); 

2.  NHS England;  

3.  Primary Care Support England; 

4.  Chief Coroner; and 

5.  Family of the deceased. 

1 

CORONER 

I am Emma Serrano, Assistant Coroner, for the coroner area of the Derby and 
Derbyshire. 

2 

CORONER’S LEGAL POWERS 

I make this report under paragraph 7, Schedule 5, of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 
and regulations 28 and 29 of the Coroners (Investigations) Regulations 2013. 

3 

INVESTIGATION and INQUEST 

On the 10th February 2020, I commenced an investigation into the death of Mrs Christine 
Forbes.  The investigation concluded at the end of the inquest on 22 September 2020. 
The conclusion of the inquest was a short form conclusion of suicide.    

The cause of death was:   

1a  Combined Oxycodone and Zolpidem Toxicity; and 

II Coronary Artery Atherosclerosis    
CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE DEATH 

4 

i)  Mrs  Forbes  was  a  72  year  old  woman  who  had  a  history  of  operation 
induced  incontinence  and  pain  management.    She  broke  her  leg  in  2016 
and  this  required  treatment  as  well  as  pain  management.    She  was 
prescribed oxycodone.  In May 2017, having stockpiled her oxycodone, she 
took an international overdose.  This was unsuccessful.   

ii)  On  the  29  September  2019  she  again  broke  her  leg.    She  was  seen  by  a 
consultant  at  the  Royal  Derby  Hospital.    She  was  prescribed  oxycodone.  
She  was  then  prescribed  oxycodone,  by  her  usual  GP  surgery,  the 
Bollington Practice, twice over the course of the following two months. 

iii)  She  registered  with  the  Ashbourne  Surgery  in  Derby  on  the  28  November 
2019.    This  surgery  had  no  information  about  Mrs  Forbes.    It  is  standard 
practice that, once a patient registers with a particular surgery, a request for 
their medical notes is made.  This request is made to Primary Care Support 
England.    It  can  take  a  significant  amount  of  time for  these  to  be  sent.    In 

1 

[IL1: PROTECT] 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 relation  to  Mrs  Forbes,  her  medical  history  and  notes  did  not  arrive  with 
Ashbourne Surgery until shortly before Mrs Forbes passed away.   

iv)  On the 11 December Mrs Forbes was prescribed oxycodone by Ashbourne 
Surgery’s Pharmacist.  This was done without the pharmacist having access 
to  relevant  information  regarding  Mrs  Forbes,  namely,  her  previous 
stockpiling  and  misuse  of  oxycodone  and  any  previous  episodes  of  self-
harm or suicide.     

v)  On  the  2  February  2020  Mrs  Forbes  took  oxycodone  and  zolpidem  in 
quantities that caused her to pass away.  She left a suicide note and her last 
will  and  testament  for  her  husband  to  find.    This  was  the  same  manner  in 
which she had tried to take her own life in May 2017.   

vi)  It  was  accepted,  at  inquest  that  the  prescription  of  the  oxycodone  to  Mrs 
Forbes was completed on the 11 December 2019, by Ashbourne Surgery’s 
Pharmacist.    This  was  done  without  the  Pharmacist  having  access  to  the 
medical  notes  of  Mrs  Forbes.    These  would  have  contained  her  previous 
medical  history  and  would  have  allowed  for  a  more  meaningful  review 
before the decision to prescribe was made.   

vii)  It was stated in evidence that it is usual for a new patient to register at a GP 
practice  and,  for  the  notes  for  that  patient  to  follow  a  significant  time  after 
the registration. 

5 

CORONER’S CONCERNS 

During the course of the inquest the evidence revealed matters giving rise to concern. In 
my  opinion  there  is  a  risk  that  future  deaths  will  occur  unless  action  is  taken.  In  the 
circumstances it is my statutory duty to report to you. 

The MATTERS OF CONCERN are as follows.  –  

1.  That when patients register at GP surgeries (across England) they do so without 
their medical notes and history.   This material can take a significant amount of 
time to be sent to a GP practice after a request is sent to Primary Care Support 
England.    Doctors  and  other  medical  practitioners  are  therefore  treating  and 
prescribing in situations where a full medical history is not known.   

6 

ACTION SHOULD BE TAKEN 

In my opinion action should be taken to prevent future deaths and I believe you have the 
power to take such action.  

7 

YOUR RESPONSE 

You are under a duty to respond to this report within 56 days of the date of this report, 
namely by 11 November 2020.  

Your response must contain details of action taken or proposed to be taken, setting out 
the timetable for action. Otherwise you must explain why no action is proposed. 

8 

COPIES and PUBLICATION 

I  have  sent  a  copy  of  my  report  to  the  Chief  Coroner  and  to  the  following  Interested 
Persons: 

2 

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 1.  Clinical Commissioning Groups (“CCG”); 

2.  NHS England;  

3.  Primary Care Support England; and 

4.  Family of the deceased. 

I am also under a duty to send the Chief Coroner a copy of your response.  

The  Chief  Coroner  may  publish  either  or  both  in  a  complete  or  redacted  or  summary 
form. He may send a copy of this report to any person who he believes may find it useful 
or  of  interest.  You  may  make  representations  to  me,  the  coroner,  at  the  time  of  your 
response, about the release or the publication of your response by the Chief Coroner. 

9 

23 September 2020                                                   

Miss Emma Serrano 
Assistant Coroner 
Derby and Derbyshire Coroners Area  

3 

[IL1: PROTECT]

Responses

1 response published against this report on judiciary.uk. A response is a body's written reply to the coroner's concerns; publication is at the discretion of the Chief Coroner's office, so an absent response does not mean nobody replied.

Response from NHS Derby and Derbyshire Clinical Commissioning Group (PDF)
Scarsdale 
Nightingale Close 
Off Newbold Road  
Chesterfield  
S41 7PF 

Tel: 
www.derbyandderbyshireccg.nhs.uk  

Our Ref: 

6th November 2020 

Private & Confidential 
Miss Serrano 
Assistant Coroner 
Derby & Derbyshire Coroners Area 
St Katherine’s House 
St Mary’s Wharf, 
Mansfield Road 
Derby 
DE1 3TQ  

Dear Miss Serrano  

Re: Regulation 28 Report to Prevent Future Deaths – Mrs Christine Forbes  

Thank you for your Regulation 28 Report dated 23 September 2020 concerning the death of 
Mrs  Christine  Forbes  on  the  2  February  2020.  Firstly,  I  would  like  to  express  my  deep 
condolences to Mrs Forbes family.  

The regulation 28 report concludes Mrs Forbes death was a result of Combined Oxycodone 
and Zolpidem Toxicity; and Coronary Artery Atherosclerosis    

Following the inquest you raised concerns in your Regulation 28 to NHS Derby and Derbyshire 
Clinical Commissioning Group –  

That when patients register at GP surgeries (across England) they do so without their 
medical notes and history.   This material can take a significant amount of time to be 
sent to a GP practice after a request is sent to Primary Care Support England.  Doctors 
and  other  medical  practitioners  are  therefore  treating  and  prescribing  in  situations 
where a full medical history is not known.   

In response to the concerns raised: 

All general practices across Derby and Derbyshire are enabled for GP2GP electronic record 
transfer;  this  is  an  electronic  system  which  allows  patients'  electronic  health  records  to  be 
transferred between their old and new practices within a matter of minutes (at most 24hrs) , 
when a patient registers with a new GP Practice.  

Head office address: 1st Floor North, Cardinal Square, 10 Nottingham Road, Derby, DE1 3QT 

Chief Executive Officer: 

Chair: 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 The aim of GP2GP is to: 

• 

Improve  patient  care  by  making  full  and  detailed  medical  records  available  to  the 
patient’s new practice to support first and later consultations.  

•  Prevents the need for a patient to provide their past medical history as this is already 

visible to the clinician seeing the patient. 

•  Supports safer prescribing provided through access to the patient's current and past 
medication and to any recorded allergies and adverse reactions and repeat medication 
details will be available for the patient's first medication review with the new GP 

Where GP2GP electronic record fails this is usually due to the sending (previous practice) not 
being enabled, the record is too large (very rare) or the patient has transferred from outside of 
England.  In  these  events  the  receiving  practice  should  contact  the  sending  practice  and 
 record through Primary Care 
request a full patient print-out whilst awaiting the 
Services England.   

In response to the Regulation 28 concern NHS Derby and Derbyshire Clinical Commissioning 
Group have liaised with Ashbourne Medical Practice to support a comprehensive reply. We 
shared the concern raised by the coroner and the practice has undertaken further investigation 
into the GP2GP electronic record transfer.  

In summary the practice actioned the GP2GP electronic record transfer on the date that Mrs 
Forbes registered at the practice on the 28.11.2019  

SystmOne are not able to show what Mrs Forbes record may have looked like on a particular 
date, but they confirmed that when the GP2GP transfer task was actioned (on 28/11/2019) all 
previous  electronic  data  including  correspondence  should  have  been  integrated  into  the 
record.   

The practice process at the time of Mrs Forbes registration was that new patient records were 
summarised by administrative staff once the paper notes arrived, and as part of this process 
both the paper notes and the electronic record were reviewed.  

The  paper  notes  were  received  at  the  practice  on  14th  January  2020  (7  weeks  after 
registration - usual timeframe), however administrative staff did not summarise them in this 
case before Mrs Forbes death (which occurred within 3 weeks of receipt of the paper notes). 

The practice has put a new process in place where any electronic records dated in the last 3 
months are reviewed by administrative staff for any urgent safeguarding events / suicide etc. 
This would prompt administrative staff to prioritise those records for summarising once arrived 
and alert the responsible GP. 

The  practice  also  looked  at  the  pharmacist’s  consultation  on  11/12/2019.  The  pharmacist 
linked the 'medication review done' code to 2x problems which were recorded in 2016 and 
2017  -  this  would  suggest  that  he  was  able  to  see  information  previously  recorded.  His 
consultation was recorded contemporaneously. 

Derby and Derbyshire CCG commission the North of England Commissioning Support Unit to 
support GP Primary Care Informatics; this includes modular training over a range of subjects 
including GP2GP Electronic Record Transfer and Note Summarisation.  

In response to the raised concern Derby and Derbyshire CCG will: 

Head office address: 1st Floor North, Cardinal Square, 10 Nottingham Road, Derby, DE1 3QT 

Chief Executive Officer: 

Chair: 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 •  Offer additional GP2GP/ Record Transfer training to Ashbourne Medical Practice 
•  Offer additional training Note Summarisation to Ashbourne Medical Practice 
•  Circulate information about available GP2GP and Note Summarisation training to all 

• 

• 

practices. 
Include  information  about  GP2GP  and  Note  Summarisation  training  into  the  GP 
Membership Bulletin 
Include  overview  of  available  training  within  DDCCG  Clinical  Governance  leads 
meetings  

Thank you for bringing these important patient safety issue to my attention and please do not 
hesitate to contact me should you need any further information. 

Yours sincerely 

 Executive Medical Director  
 NHS Derby and Derbyshire Clinical Commissioning Group  

cc:  

, Associate Medical Director  

, Head of Corporate Development  

Head office address: 1st Floor North, Cardinal Square, 10 Nottingham Road, Derby, DE1 3QT 

Chief Executive Officer: 

Chair:

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