An NHS trust has been fined £1.3million over poor care at one of its hospitals that led to the deaths of two patients.
The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust admitted three offences of failing to provide safe care after an inquiry into the deaths of pensioner Max Dingle and dialysis patient Mohammed Ismael Zaman.
Passing sentence at Telford Magistrates' Court on Wednesday, Senior District Judge Paul Goldspring said the families of the patients who died at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital in 2019 and 2020 had suffered "unimaginable grief".
He imposed a fine of £800,000 on one of two charges relating to the death of 31-year-old Mr Zaman, and an additional £533,334 over a charge brought in relation to the death of Mr Dingle, aged 83.
Have you been affected by this story? Let us know at webnews@mirror.co.uk
The judge said the offences were aggravated by a fine the Trust received in 2016 and a "poor health and safety record in the management of" the same hospital.
Mr Goldspring added that the charges were mitigated by the Trust carrying out "full and extensive investigations immediately after both incidents".
The court heard Mr Zaman suffered severe blood loss while undergoing dialysis at the hospital.
The second charge was brought about by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) after pensioner Mr Dingle was left his head was trapped between a bed rail and a mattress in 2020.
Opening the facts of the case against the trust, the CQC's lawyer Ryan Donoghue said the failures in care provided to Mr Zaman "were the legal cause of his death, for which the trust is responsible".
Mr Donoghue added that Mr Dingle's "head was trapped between the bed rails and mattress" after he was admitted with chronic lung disease.
An alarm was immediately raised when Mr Dingle was found, the court heard, and he was freed, but he died from a cardiac arrest.
The court heard the deaths occurred at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital in October 2019 and May 2020.
Referring to the death of Mr Dingle, Mr Donoghue said: "The basis (of the guilty plea) is that the failures exposed him to a significant risk of avoidable harm".
An independent review of maternity services, chaired by Donna Ockenden and published in March, found "repeated errors in care" at the trust, which led to injury to either mothers or their babies.
Some 201 babies could have - or would have - survived if the trust had provided better care, the report said.
