London Basildon Hospital

An inquest will take place today into the death of a woman who was treated at Basildon Hospital in February.

Pam Chapple, 62, died of a brain haemorrage after her family claim she was made to wait six hours before being transferred from Basildon Hospital to Queen's Hospital in Romford, the regional neurosurgery hospital.

Her son Dan has since set up a Basildon branch of patient advocacy group Cure the NHS.

Basildon and Thurrock Hospital in Essex is one of 14 hospital trusts bracing itself for tough criticism over thousands of needless deaths in a key report next week.

An NHS medical director is set to detail failings in the trusts thought to have had 'excess' death rates going back years.

The report is expected to describe poor care, medical errors and management blunders.

Basildon Hospital is already under investigation for its high death rates, it is now being examined for its treatment of a disabled woman.

The health watchdog says Tina Papalabropoulos died after doctors failed to provide her with intensive treatment.

Basildon Hospital in Essex has been seriously criticised for the way it treated a disabled patient.

The Health Service Ombudsman says the hospital missed "any opportunity" to save the life of Tina Papalabropoulos, who was 23 and had diabetes, epilepsy, dwarfism and learning difficulties.

She died at the hospital in 2009 after being admitted with pneumonia.

The Health Service Ombudsman has criticised an out-of-hours GP for refusing to visit a disabled 23-year-old woman days before being admitted to Basildon Hospital where she died, despite pleas from her mother.

Tina Papalabropoulos, who suffered from learning disabilities, epilepsy, a form of dwarfism and an abnormal curvature of the spine died in January 2009.

Her mother Mrs Papalabropoulos says that doctors see people with learning disabilities only as an "existance".

She believes the serious failures at Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust have highlighted the problem: "Vulnerable people like my daughter have been suffering this kind of care for decades.

It seems like all of their skills go out of the window when they get a child with a disability."

Basildon Hospital says it welcomes the Health Service Ombudsman review which found that staff missed opportunities to save the life of a 23-year-old disabled woman in 2009.

In the statement from the hospital in Essex it says since the death of Tina Papalabropoulos it has 'made significant improvement to the care and treatment' of patients with learning disabilities.

Basildon Hospital has been criticised by the Health Service Ombudsman for "missing any opportunity" to save the life of a 23-year-old patient.

Tina Papalabropoulos, who suffered from learning disabilities, epilepsy, a form of dwarfism and an abnormal curvature of the spine died in January 2009.

Four days after developing a cough she was admitted with suspected aspiration pneumonia, which meant food had got into her lungs, but had to wait five days to see the respiratory consultant, her mother Christine said.

The report found that when Miss Papalabropoulos arrived at the hospital, doctors "did not provide her with the treatment that her condition would have called for."

The trust was criticised for allowing her to eat and drink, failing to immediately administer antibiotics and for not considering moving her to the "high dependency" unit.

The hospital is currently under investigation for having higher-than-expected death rates.

The Health Ombudsman has criticised Basildon Hospital for "missing any opportunity" to save the life of a disabled patient.

23 year old Tina Papalabropoulos died in 2009, after she was made to wait five days to see a consultant.

The investigation was prompted to look into Basildon Hospital after two consecutive years of higher than expected deaths. According to NHS statistics, which also take into account patients who died within 30 days of being discharged:

• Between July 2010 and June 2011 there were 263 more deaths than the 1658 expected.

• Between July 2011 and June 2012 there were 244 more than the projected 1699.