AN investigation into a nurse’s conduct prior to a York musician’s death still hasn’t concluded - five years after he died.

Bev Jones, 75, of Copmanthorpe, a leading chorister, composer, arranger, teacher and musical director, died at Harrogate Hospital in February 2016 after being taken there by paramedics from a local care home.

An agency nurse told an inquest in 2018 she had found Mr Jones, a diabetic, had very high blood sugar levels in the morning and claimed she had rung a local GP surgery about this before lunchtime, at the request of another nurse. But the inquest heard phone records showed no call was made from the home to the practice before 2.04pm, and the nurse had also failed to make notes about his treatment.

Mr Jones’ widow Lesley said the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) had been intending to hold a ‘fitness to practice’ hearing over the nurse’s conduct but a date had still not been set.

She said the NMC emailed her in January 2020 to say it had completed its investigation, and it would aim to list any hearing by June. But it emailed her again last October to say it was sorry it was taking so long to reschedule it, fully understood she wanted closure but was still ‘finishing off a bit of investigation.’ Mrs Jones said the ‘disgusting’ delays were preventing her getting closure, adding: “Bev died on February 2016, yet I am still having to deal with his death every week.”

Clare Strickland, of the NMC, said:“We recognise this is a difficult time for Mrs Jones and that delays to our fitness to practise process, caused by the circumstances and challenges of the coronavirus pandemic and further investigative work required, have added to this distress. We are very sorry for that.”