Hospital invites man who died in January to attend diabetic eye clinic (From York Press)

York Hospital invites Ian Harper, who died in January, to attend diabetic eye clinic

10:03am Tuesday 14th August 2012 in News By Richard Catton, Health reporter

THE former partner of a man who died unexpectedly in January has criticised York Hospital after it sent him a letter this month asking him to attend an appointment.

Jean Ashton, 70, from Tadcaster called on the hospital to “tighten up its processes” after she received a letter addressed to long-term partner Ian Harper asking him to attend a retinal screening test. Mr Harper died on January 27 from a stomach haemorrhage.

Mrs Ashton said she thought the NHS was “very inefficient” in sending out the letter.

She said: “To send this out to a dead person is not good. It’s terrible when someone dies suddenly. I am still filling in forms – it’s tough.

“I would like them (the hospital) to tighten up their procedures and then they can write to me to say sorry.”

The pair had been together for 13 years.

In a letter to York Hospital bosses, Miss Ashton wrote: “Coping with the loss of a partner is bad enough but to ask him to attend an examination, and on an annual basis, is really going too far.”

Sarah Lovell, the hospital’s directorate manager for medicine, said: “It is highly regrettable that Mrs Ashton received this information, and I would like to apologise for the distress it has clearly caused.

“GP practices notify the Diabetic Retinal Screening Service administration team every six months of deceased patients, which we then reconcile with our records. Outside of this routine notification the service relies upon GP practice updates for individual patients.

“We are working with the GP practice to investigate the circumstances. We have made contact with Mrs Ashton to discuss her concerns and hope to resolve the matter very soon.”