Leslie Runkee was undergoing surgery at Castle Hill Hospital
The widow of a man who endured being sewed up after surgery with a needle lodged in his chest has agreed a compensation settlement with Hull University Teaching Hospital NHS Trust. Father-of-four Leslie Runkee was undergoing heart surgery at Castle Hill Hospital in October 2023, when surgeons lost a needle in his chest.
Having realised their mistake, they called for a radiographer to take X-rays to find the missing implement. But with no radiographer at the hospital after 8pm – a specialist was called from a neighbouring hospital.
According to the Trust, cover normally aims to be provided within 30 minutes, but on the night, heavy traffic is said to have caused the journey to take more than an hour. Due to the delay, Mr Runkee became unstable and the decision was taken to close his sternum.
A second operation was staged 48 hours later to remove the needle. Mr Runkee continued to struggle with health issues and he died in hospital in May 2024, aged 76.
A legal case was brought by Hull-based medical negligence specialists Hudgell Solicitors against the Trust, which admitted a “break of duty” that Mr Runkee would have avoided the need for a second operation, had a radiographer arrived within 30 minutes.
The Trust agreed a surgical negligence compensation settlement with Mr Runkee’s widow, Gillian. It also apologised for “failures” and “shortcomings” in the care of her husband but denied the second procedure to retrieve the needle hampered Mr Runkee’s recovery.
Ms Runkee said her husband had been a special needs teacher and taught post graduates before retiring. She described him as fit and enthusiastic, with lots of ideas about how to spend his retirement, and a huge supporter of Hull City.
She said: “The NHS is obviously a brilliant operation when it’s working, but when it’s not working due to not having enough money or manpower, then you don’t know what you are letting yourself for. There were lots of things that went wrong and I do feel let down.
“In my opinion, the radiography unit at Castle Hill is not fit for purpose, as there is no radiographer present overnight and there is a stipulation that one should be in attendance within 30 minutes. In the end, it took almost two hours for one to arrive and once they had closed him up, they decided after 48 hours to have another operation.
“The needle was clearly a danger, as, if it wasn’t a problem, they shouldn’t have opened Les up again. We ended up with one admission of fault but there are clearly procedures that were not correctly in place. Castle Hill should have had a radiographer on stand-by. Our experience has been very poor.”
Ms Runkee added: “He didn’t want to die because he still had a lot of things he wanted to do. All four of our kids have been left scarred and I have also been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, which has escalated beyond belief because of the stress. Things will never be the same again.”
Hudgell Solicitors said that when surgical equipment is accidentally left in patient, it is typically classed as a ‘Never Event’ – which the NHS describes as serious events at that are “wholly preventable” due to guidance and safety recommendations in place. In the case of Mr Runkee, surgeons were aware the needle may have been left in him and because an immediate, second operation was not possible due to his condition, it was exempt from the classification.
Samantha Gardner, senior medical negligence solicitor at Hudgell Solicitors, represented the Runkee family and has called for “lessons to be learned” at Castle Hill Hospital. She said: “This was a basic, unavoidable error that should not have happened.
“As a consequence of the radiographer not arriving to attend to Mr Runkee in a timely manner, the missing needle was unable to be removed and therefore another operation was required. The Trust offered an apology to the Runkees and compensation was agreed, but the pain and suffering that this has caused the family is immeasurable.
“We hope that lessons have been learned to stop this happening in the future. But in cases when medical negligence of this nature occurs, we would recommend taking immediate legal advice so a thorough and rigorous investigation can be launched.”
A spokesperson for the Trust said: “We would like to again extend our condolences to Mrs Runkee and reiterate our apology. Our aim is to deliver the highest possible standards of patient care, and we deeply regret that on this occasion, those standards were not met.
“We remain dedicated to continuously improving the care and services we provide.”