Nurse died from fatal epileptic fit after she was wrongly discharged from specialist treatment by receptionist
The mum-of-one, who worked nights at Royal Manchester Infirmary, suffered a seizure while in bed at home
A MUM-of-one tragically died in her sleep from an epileptic fit after she was incorrectly discharged by a hospital receptionist without doctors' knowledge.
Holly Rhodes was due to have a follow up appointment after having an MRI scan for her brain condition but did not attend as staff had an incorrect contact number for her.
When the 28-year-old failed to show up she was then discharged by a worker on the front desk without doctors being told or a letter being sent to Holly and her GP.
Tragically the mum-of-one, who worked nights at Royal Manchester Infirmary, later suffered a seizure while in bed at home in Blackley, Manchester, and was found dead by her partner when he came home from work.
At an inquest into her death a coroner condemned the ''significant systematic failures'' by Salford Royal Hospital as NHS chiefs apologised over their treatment of the young mother.
The Manchester hearing was told that Holly, who had a son aged two, had suffered from a mild form of epilepsy and had seizures in 2007 and then again in 2013.
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She was put on a clinical trial drug but it was later switched to Levetiracetam after she suffered side effects.
Holly attended an appointment for an EEG and MRI scan at Salford Royal in February 2015 - where her results appeared normal.
She then requested all further appointments be transferred to North Manchester General Hospital on a date to fixed - but although one was arranged for two months later in April she was not contacted about it and a Salford Royal receptionist discharged her for not turning up.
Her heartbroken mother, Jennifer Rhodes, told the inquest: "She told me she had a mild form of epilepsy. She told me that she was more forgetful, and had episodes of déjà vu and was not feeling herself.
''She did tell me about the seizure in 2013, and mentioned that she had had one previously when living in Leeds in 2007. She made it seem as though it wasn't really a big issue, she did tell me that she bit her tongue in her sleep a few times.
"I think she did play it down for my benefit. I knew that she had a brain scan in February, and she told me that the results were normal and she was fine. The last time I saw her she appeared perfectly well and happy. The last time I spoke to her was the day before she died. She said that the baby was teething and she had not had much sleep and was due to go to work."
Holly's devastated partner Thomas Theaker added: "Holly told me that she had feelings of déjà vu and had a tingling sensation through the left side of her body. She did wake up having bitten her tongue, but that was quite sporadic, once or twice a week with no pattern to it. Her symptoms did reduce slightly but she still felt like she was suffering from déjà vu."
On the day of her death on August 18 last year the couple spoke by phone in the morning but tragically Holly had already died before he got back from work.
The cause of death was listed as epilepsy and although there were no traces of anti-epileptic drugs in her system, tests showed she had abnormal blood levels of prescribed medication caused by tablets she had been taking for post natal depression.
Toni Coyl, a senior manager at Salford Royal, said: "In this case the receptionist put DNA (did not attend) next to Holly's name at 9.51am. The receptionist also discharged Holly from the clinic.
"There is a fail-safe system in place where a letter should be sent out to the discharged patient and the GP. A letter was generated and was scanned in organising the first appointment - but because she had already been discharged before it got to the letter system, there was not another letter to explain her discharge because this did not pick it up.
"There was the assumption that a clinical decision had been made which was not the case. I would like to apologise to Holly's family for this.
"As far as I am aware nothing like this has happened before. We have since been in talks with the companies who run our admin receptions and have made changes to our systems."
Coroner Fiona Borril recorded a narrative conclusion and said: "There were clearly two significant system failures at Salford Royal, and with the management.
''It is not clear if she should have been asked to come back after three months or not but this is extremely unsatisfactory that a receptionist can discharge a patient from clinic. This is a tragedy for Holly's family, for her son, for her to have died so suddenly in this way."
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