A WOMAN died after a hip replacement went wrong and a lack of certain out-of-hours medical support meant she was transported miles in an emergency - a report has found.

Brendan Allen, area coroner for Dorset, has written a Prevention of Future Deaths report after the death of Christine Rita Booker at Royal Bournemouth Hospital.

Mrs Booker underwent elective hip replacement surgery at the Winterbourne Hospital in Dorchester, operated by Circle Health Group, in February last year.

During the surgery, Mrs Booker lost more blood than expected. The report said she initially appeared to recover as expected following such a procedure but became severely unwell when her blood pressure became unrecordable.

Measures were taken to resuscitate and stabilise Mrs Booker and she was transferred to Dorset County Hospital (DCH) for ongoing treatment and imaging. However, due to there being no out-of-hours interventional radiology at DCH, Mrs Booker was transferred to the Royal Bournemouth Hospital.

While she initially stabilised after attempts were made to stem the blood loss, Mrs Booker deteriorated again the next day.

She died on February 24.

The coroner’s report states that, due of the lack of out-of-hours interventional radiology at DCH, patients in the west of the county requiring such an intervention must be transferred to the Royal Bournemouth Hospital. ‘This exposes these patients to a potentially considerable and significant delay in the provision of urgent and life-saving treatment, which, in turn, exposes them to an increased risk of death,’ it states.

The report highlighting these concerns has been sent to the chief executive of Dorset County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Matthew Bryant, and the trust has formally responded.

Mr Bryant said: “We would like to express our sincere condolences to Mrs Booker’s family. We are mindful that the circumstances surrounding her death, and the subsequent inquest, will have added to their distress and are sorry for this.

“Out-of-hours specialised interventional radiology services in Dorset are provided by University Hospitals Dorset at the Royal Bournemouth Hospital.

“As happened in this case, if a patient presents at Dorset County Hospital as an emergency in the evening or weekends, and then needs a specialist interventional radiology procedure, they are transferred to the Royal Bournemouth Hospital or other centre by blue light ambulance or helicopter.”

A spokesperson for The Winterbourne Hospital, said: “The safety and security of our patients is of the utmost importance. A patient is only ever transferred out when absolutely necessary. A thorough investigation has been carried out and we continue to work closely with all parties involved.”