A grieving family has been failed by a hospital trust that did not inform a father of seven he was terminally ill, a damning official investigation has concluded.
A Devastating Failure of Communication
William Chapman, known as Syd, from Upton in Cheshire, only discovered he had the incurable lung disease pulmonary fibrosis during a casual phone call with his GP. The doctor mistakenly believed Mr Chapman had already been told the devastating prognosis.
The 58-year-old grandfather of 16 died eight months later in 2022. An investigation by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) has now laid bare a series of catastrophic communication failures at the Countess of Chester Hospital.
The Timeline of Missed Opportunities
Mr Chapman was first admitted to hospital in July 2021 with severe shortness of breath and was diagnosed with COVID-19. Further tests were conducted.
In September 2021, a junior doctor reassured him he would be 'okay' and had nothing to worry about, despite having no evidence to support this claim. Crucially, by November 2021, a consultant had identified the fatal pulmonary fibrosis in a letter to the GP.
The consultant failed to send a copy of this letter to Mr Chapman or inform him of the diagnosis directly, as standard procedure requires. Pulmonary fibrosis causes irreversible scarring of the lungs, leading to worsening breathlessness. There is no cure.
'We Lost All That Time Together'
Mr Chapman's daughter, Chantelle, 32, said the family felt 'completely let down'. She explained that her father continued to work in difficult conditions because he believed he would recover.
"If he had known the truth, he would have given up work and made the most of the time he had left with his family," she stated. "By the time he was given the information to make that decision he was too poorly to work anyway... We all lost that time to spend together."
The PHSO ruled that this failure robbed Mr Chapman of the chance to make informed decisions about his health and end-of-life care. The investigation also found hospital staff did not properly engage with his family and kept poor or non-existent records of some consultations.
Ombudsman's Findings and Trust's Response
The report identified a "worrying lack of accountability" and a failure to learn from mistakes, though it noted no failings in the clinical care provided. The Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust has complied with the PHSO's recommendations, which included:
- Issuing a formal apology to the family.
- Making service improvements.
- Improving record-keeping procedures.
- Paying Mr Chapman's wife £1,200 in recognition of their distress.
A trust spokesperson said: "We apologise unreservedly for the experiences of Mr Chapman and his family. We fully accept the findings and recommendations of the Ombudsman and will continue to embed the improvements."
