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North Kent coroner's court delays restarted inquest into death of Sian Hollands at Darent Valley Hospital

An inquest into the death of a young mum-of-three has been delayed indefinitely after another key witness was identified.

Gravesend Old Town Hall heard evidence last week regarding the death of 25-year-old Sian Hollands at Darent Valley Hospital, who was considered well enough to be discharged just hours before she died on Sunday, November 15, 2015.

The inquest was set to go on all week but on Wednesday coroner Roger Hatch ruled that it needed to be restarted after it emerged that a key witness required legal representation.

Sian with daughter Marne
Sian with daughter Marne

He scheduled it for 10am this morning to give the medical barrister parachuted in to represent Dr Kamran Khan time to prepare, but the identification of another witness considered pivotal to the chain of events that led to Sian's death has caused further delay.

Dr Khan told the hearing last Tuesday that a previously unidentifiable agency nurse monitoring Sian for much of the day she died had failed to provide him with vital information that would have prevented him from discharging her.

Sian had been given oxygen and continued to complain of the chest and stomach pains that had seen her admitted on Saturday, November 14, and Dr Khan claimed he was not told.

Gravesend Old Town Hall, High Street.
Gravesend Old Town Hall, High Street.

Dr Khan said: “If I was aware of the facts, my decision to discharge her at that moment would have been wrong, but this was my personal clinical assessment.”

He therefore disputed an admission by the Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust that the decision to discharge Sian at 3.30pm on the Sunday was “inappropriate”, and said he was “shocked” to hear of Sian’s death at just before 10pm.

The agency nurse was also criticised by Sian's former partner Carl Elleyne when he gave evidence last Monday.

Darent Valley Hospital. Picture: Nick Johnson
Darent Valley Hospital. Picture: Nick Johnson

He was with Sian at the hospital for much of the Sunday and said staff “didn’t appreciate how unwell she was”.

The Trust successfully identified the agency nurse late last week, and the time it will take her to prepare a statement and evidence meant the inquest could not restart today as planned.

No new date has been set as of today - 449 days after Sian’s death.

Sian’s death has been put down to a pulmonary embolism - a hard to identify clot that prevents blood reaching the lungs.

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