Grieving daughter claims Milton Keynes Hospital 'lost' her dad's treasured possessions after his death

MK Hospital has apologised after losing a patient’s treasured possessions after he died on a ward.

When 89-year-old Norman Buxton was admitted to hospital with a broken hip and chest infection, he was wearing a wedding ring, a family heirloom watch and a crucifix engraved with the name of his late wife.

Sadly he passed away, with his family at his bedside, on December 18, two days after he was admitted. Afterwards, his family believe all his treasured possessions, including his clothes, glasses and hearing aid, were put in a plastic sack and dumped by mistake.

His daughter Lucy said she had a call the following week to tell her his wallet had been found in the cabinet, which was beside his bed.

"They asked if I wanted to come in and collect his belongings,” Lucy said.

“I was expecting to pick everything up - his clothes, his phone, charger, hearing aid and charger, glasses and his jewellery. This included included his wedding ring and a necklace engraved with my mum’s name, date of birth and the date she passed away.

“There was also his watch, which had belonged to his own dad… As you can imagine, the jewellery is of real sentimental value to us.”

But, on arriving at the hospital, Lucy was handed an envelope containing just a wallet by the ward sister.

"I asked her where the rest of dad’s things were and she said she did not have anything else. She went off to have another look and then came back and told me to ring security to see if they have his clothes and to ring the mortuary to see if they had the jewellery.”

Later the undertaker confirmed that Norman was wearing no ring, watch or necklace when they received his body, said Lucy.

"The hospital told me their procedures are that nurses and staff are not to remove any jewellery from patients - yet someone did.”

With none of the items found, Lucy lodged a complaint through PALS, the hospital’s Patient Advice and Liaison Service.

"From what I can tell, all my dad’s belongings were put into a green bag - and they were more or less implying it has been throw away,” she said.

Compensation has been mentioned, but Lucy says: “No amount of money will replace the jewellery. It’s the last personal thing we have of my dad.”

“The hospital need to be liable for the upset and trauma this has caused me and my family.”

Yvonne Christley, Chief Nurse at Milton Keynes University Hospital, told the Citizen: “I am very sorry that we have not been able to return Mr Buxton’s possessions to his daughter Lucy. I can appreciate how very upsetting this has been and continues to be for her.

She added: “We have well-established procedures to safely and securely manage patients’ belongings after death - including jewellery - which we agree with their next of kin.

"We are currently investigating what happened in this case and have spoken with Lucy about what we are doing to try and find out what happened, why it happened, and to prevent anything similar happening again.”