The inquest, overseen by the coroner and including evidence given by two doctors involved in Campbell’s care, finds that he died of natural causes and adds that “missed opportunities” to correctly diagnose Campbell did “not more than minimally contribute to his death on the balance of probabilities”.
The scrutiny over Campbell’s death and the handling of his illness comes against a backdrop of wider concern about standards of care in the NHS.
“I think because of the significant financial trouble the NHS is in we have seen a marked decline in the quality of patient care,” says Dr Luke Munford, senior lecturer in health economics at the University of Manchester.
“The NHS recommends that 90% of cardiac patients are seen within an 18-week timeframe. In Manchester at the moment that is 54%.”
“Manchester receives about £2.6bn per year, which sounds like a lot, but when you divide that through by the population it serves it actually isn’t a great deal of money at all.
“England does suffer from a postcode lottery. People in the north, even if they have substantial personal wealth, are at the mercy of the local health and care system.
“If we look at budget cuts, austerity hit areas like Manchester much worse than areas in the south-east of England.” Dr Manford added that he was concerned there would be more examples of cases like Campbell’s.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson told the BBC: “Kevin Campbell was a huge inspiration, and our deepest sympathies are with his family and friends.
“This government is overhauling our NHS so it works for all patients, no matter where they live and our fundamental shift from sickness to prevention will be vital in tackling health inequalities, making people healthier and reducing pressure on the NHS.
“Under our Plan for Change, we are also prioritising patient safety and investing an extra £26 billion in the NHS to cut waiting lists and save lives.”
A spokesperson for Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust said: “We once again offer our deep condolences to the family and friends of Mr Campbell for their very great loss. It is clear from the inquest that everyone did their best to care for him, and there is no evidence that Mr Campbell’s death could have been avoided.
“We are committed to constantly improving the quality of care we provide to our patients. Whilst there are aspects of Mr Campbell’s care that could have been improved, the Coroner has found that these did not more than minimally contribute to his sad death. We have already taken learning from Mr Campbell’s care and made improvements across the Trust, and we are committed to ongoing learning and improvement for all our patients.”
