A GRIEVING son wants answers after his mother died at Southend Hospital.

Sandra Quade was admitted to the hospital with pneumonia and died as a result of complications from a chest drain in January last year.

An inquest found a failure to observe her after the drain was fitted meant medics missed signs she was bleeding internally.

The bleed was caused after the chest drain ruptured a blood vessel which a pathologist claimed was due to Mrs Quade’s “atypical anatomy”.

As a result, the hospital was ordered by senior coroner Caroline Beasley-Murray to adopt new nursing guidelines for observing chest drain patients.

But her son Robert, 44, insists this does not go far enough in getting justice for his mum.

He said: “Because mum died, patients at Southend Hospital are now observed more regularly after a chest drain procedure. So she has a legacy in that respect and it means other families will not have to go through what I have. But I believe she still had a wholly unnecessary procedure which was not supported by the lab tests of the fluid in her chest.”

Mr Quade, of Warwick Road, Rayleigh, argues medical documents regarding his mother’s treatment show clinicians did not follow NHS guidelines, which he obtained by way of a freedom of information request.

He said: “If the guidelines had been followed, mum would never have had the drain. Then, despite fulfilling every single symptom for internal bleeding, she was left to bleed to death. How is this possible in an NHS hospital in 2018?

“Multiple opportunities to save her were missed and her death was wholly avoidable.”

Mr Quade says the ordeal has left him a different person. He said: “It takes over your life but I’m doing it for mum. I’ve not been able to grieve properly and I’m very angry now. Someone needs to be held accountable.”

In a letter seen by the Echo, managing director Yvonne Blucher apologised to Mr Quade for the observation failures highlighted by the coroner.

Denise Townsend, director of Southend Hospital, said: “We have had regular contact with Mr Quade and have acknowledged the coroner’s conclusion that Mrs Quade suffered a ‘rare but recognised complication of the chest drain procedure’. The Trust has taken recommendations from an independent expert and reviewed and implemented new procedures for care following a chest drain insertion.”