A DIABETIC patient died after a catalogue of ‘serious failings’ by hospital staff, health watchdogs concluded in a damning report.

NHS Lanarkshire has been ordered to apologise to the family of a man who developed a major complication of diabetes after being admitted to Hairmyres Hospital in Lanarkshire to have his leg amputated.

The patient, who has not been identified, developed diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) a serious problem that can occur in people with diabetes if their body starts to run out of insulin.

The Health Ombudsman upheld three complaints against the hospital and also highlighted a number of other serious failings, saying the board had failed to provide the patient with 'reasonable treatment'.

The investigation found staff did not adequately monitor and respond to both hypo-glycaemia (low blood sugars) and hyper-glycaemia.

Staff also failed to recognise the patient had a serious heart problem, aortic stenosis, after he was admitted to the hospital’s High Dependency Unit (HDU) because the required cardiac examination was not carried out.

The patient was later transferred out of the unit, despite his condition worsening and staff failed to respond to his deterioration in a ‘timely manner.’

There was then a delay in reviewing him when he was transferred back to the surgical ward and a delay in recognising and starting treatment for possible sepsis.

The inquiry papers state: “When Mr A was transferred to the medical HDU overnight, he was not seen until the following morning.

“This was an unreasonable delay given the severity of his illness and the complexities of managing DKA in a patient with known cardiac problems.”

There was also a failure to chart the patient's respiratory rate when he was deteriorating.

The health board was also criticised for failing to identify a large number of the failings identified in the report during its own internal investigation.

NHS Lanarkshire has been given a deadline to implement ten recommendations related to staff training including diagnosing a 'diabetic emergency.'

Dr Jane Burns, medical director for NHS Lanarkshire’s acute division, said: “We are deeply sorry for our failings in this case.

“Clearly our care fell well below the high standard we aim to provide for our patients and it is extremely disappointing that this was not picked up during the investigation into the original complaint.

“We have already made significant improvements in our complaints handling processes and we have accepted the Ombudsman’s recommendations.

“We will now develop an action plan to implement these recommendations and will ensure that the learning is shared across NHS Lanarkshire.”

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