PRISON staff have been criticised for taking ‘no action’ in investigating a prisoner’s symptoms who later died from multi-organ failure.
Hamdi Musse, 27, was incarcerated at HMP Bullingdon, near Bicester, while awaiting sentencing for supplying Class A drugs.
The 27-year-old had been remanded on December 12, 2021. However, by January 13, he had died in Royal Free Hospital London hospital.
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A recently released report by the Prisons & Probation Ombudsman (PPO) has concluded that Musse’s care was ‘not equivalent to that which he could have expected to receive in the community’ as healthcare staff did ‘not follow prescribed clinical practice when he presented with abnormal and deteriorating symptoms’.
Musse was charged with possession of 25 packages of heroin with the intent to supply it in Swindon on June 14, 2015. It amounted to 3.42 grams of the Class A drug.
He had indicated a guilty plea to the charge in a hearing before Swindon Magistrates' Court on December 11, and had been committed to the Crown Court for sentencing.
Meanwhile, he was remanded in custody and on his arrival, Musse told healthcare staff he had been diagnosed with autoimmune hepatitis, a condition which attacks the liver.
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He was booked in to have an appointment with the prison GP due to complaints of jaundice, joint pains and cramps but had to wait two-and-a-half weeks because of ‘lengthy’ waiting times.
However, a week later, a prison emergency care practitioner found Musse had jaundice in his eyes and a swollen and painful abdomen.
It was deemed he could wait for the appointment but ‘could be seen sooner, if necessary’.
The prison GP eventually sent him to hospital and he was admitted to the intensive care unit at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford.
Musse was transferred to London where he died from ‘multi-organ failure’.
The PPO found ‘there had been no action to investigate and identify the cause of Mr Musse’s significant symptoms’.
Practice Plus Group, which runs the services at the prison, said it has accepted recommendations to improve.
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A Practice Plus Group spokesperson said: "We'd like to offer our sincere condolences to the family of Mr Musse, and to thank the PPO for his report.
"We accept the recommendations and have put in place a detailed action plan to address them, in parallel with our own clinical review of this very sad case of a young man with a serious health condition.
"We always endeavour to implement learnings from when things go wrong to improve the services we provide."
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