A HOSPITAL trust has been fined more than £1.3 million following patient deaths.

The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH) was sentenced for safety failings at Telford Magistrates' Court on Wednesday (May 18).

The failings were linked to the deaths of pensioner Max Dingle, 83, from Newtown, and 31-year-old Telford dialysis patient Mohammed Ismael Zaman.

SaTH admitted the charges through its barrister at Telford Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday morning.

Passing sentence, Senior District Judge Paul Goldspring said the families of the two patients who died at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital in 2019 and 2020 had suffered “unimaginable grief.”

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The judge imposed a fine of £800,000 on one of two charges relating to the death of 31-year-old Mohammed Ismael Zaman, and an additional £533,334 over a charge brought in relation to the death of Max Dingle, aged 83.

The judge said the offences were aggravated by a fine the Trust received in 2016 and a “poor health and safety record in the management of” the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital.
Mr Goldspring added that the charges were mitigated by the Trust carrying out “full and extensive investigations immediately after both incidents”.

Ahead of the court hearing, the Care Quality Commission said in a statement: “CQC brought the prosecution following two separate incidents, each resulting in the death of a patient, after they were allegedly exposed to the risk of avoidable harm at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital.”