Compensation for dad after NHS assault claim

A FATHER has received £7,000 in compensation after claiming he was assaulted by security staff as he and his wife attempted to take their baby daughter home from hospital.

David Fish says he was left with bruising and bloodshot eyes after the incident at Bristol Children's Hospital.

His wife Beverley is said to have been left with a black eye from the incident.

The Fishponds couple sued the NHS and Mr Fish has now received a settlement, with £7,000 compensation, after the legal team acting on behalf of University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust admitted liability for the injuries he suffered in March 2008.

The couple's daughter Ellie-Suzanne was born weighing just 589 grams – about 1lb 4oz – in September 2007, after Mrs Fish went into premature labour when she was just 23 weeks pregnant. The youngster was initially given a ten to 15 per cent chance of survival and spent her first six months in the neonatal intensive care unit at Southmead Hospital. She was then transferred to Bristol Children's Hospital for an operation on her stomach.

It was after surgery at the city centre hospital that Mr and Mrs Fish say the consultant in charge of her care told them they could finally take their daughter home.

But another consultant involved in her care disagreed and, as the couple attempted to leave the hospital with their baby daughter, security staff tried to stop them.

It is then that the assault is claimed to have taken place.

Mr Fish, 47, said: "We were told by a doctor on the ward that we were going to be allowed to take Ellie home overnight and then bring her back in the morning.

"It would have been the first time she had ever come home, or out of hospital.

"We spoke to the doctor there and he said it was absolutely fine and we could take her home now so we got everything up together. When we walked out we saw the security guards coming up but thought nothing of it."

But Mr Fish said that as he and his wife tried to walk out, four guards stopped them. In the ensuing confrontation Mr and Mrs Fish say they were injured. Police were called and later took photographs of the injuries the couple suffered.

But Mr and Mrs Fish were themselves cautioned for a public order offence, and admit they swore at the time of the alleged assault.

The couple said it was not until 5am the next day that they saw each other again, after spending the night in separate police cells.

After the incident they were prevented from visiting their daughter for two weeks.

The couple – who also have three sons, David, 23, Martyn, 21, and Joshua, 16, and daughters Stacey, 26 and Abbie, 19 – had to send relatives and friends in to visit their daughter during that time.

When they were allowed back the couple had to sign an agreement which insisted that their visits had to be monitored.

Mrs Fish, 42, said that after the incident she became anxious. She said: "When I first saw my face afterwards I could not believe it.

"My bridge was knocked out of my mouth and my face was black for months afterwards."

Mr and Mrs Fish said they had previously raised concerns about the care of their daughter while she was in ward 38 at the hospital.

Ellie still requires oxygen overnight and has other complex needs but can walk and can talk, which her parents said they were warned not to expect. She has now started at a mainstream school.

A spokesman for the NHS Litigation Authority, which handles legal matters on behalf of health trusts, said: "There was a claim made of assault by security staff. After an investigation we admitted that claim and compensation was paid."

A spokeswoman for the city centre hospital trust said: "The NHS Litigation Authority has settled Mr Fish's civil claim for personal injury against University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust as a result of an incident in March 2008."

She would not respond to the family's allegations about the way the security team had handled the situation or complaints over other aspects of her care at the hospital prior to the incident. The trust also declined to say whether its security procedures had changed since the incident.

Tom Jones of Thompsons Solicitors, which handled the case for Mr and Mrs Fish, said: "Civil proceedings for personal injury (which in Mr Fish's case have been successful and in Mrs Fish's case have yet to be concluded) were started.

"The allegations of negligence included that the Trust failed to control or adequately train employees for whom they were responsible."