Coroner raises concerns following death of woman at Salford Royal Hospital

Concerns over Salford’s urgent stroke network have been raised during an investigation into a woman’s death.

A report published into the death of Margaret Crooks, who suffered a stroke on February 20, has raised concerns over “confusion” among stroke staff which could lead to “outcome-changing” delays in care for other patients.

Senior coroner Alison Mutch heard how the 70-year-old was initially taken to Stepping Hill Hospital in Stockport and given intravenous treatment to break down the clot, but shortly after developed a large bleed from the medication.

The court was told how doctors at Stepping Hill Hospital called Salford Royal – the out of hours support for the stroke network – but were not advised to give medication to try and prevent further bleeding.

The prevention of future deaths report said that the advice appeared to have been given by a registrar in Salford, rather than with input from the stroke consultant.

According to the report, medication should have been given at Stepping Hill.

The patient was transferred to Salford Royal Hospital where the treatment was given, but she continued to deteriorate and died.

In the report, Coroner Mutch wrote: “There appeared to be some confusion amongst some of the stroke clinicians who support the work as to the level of support that was to be provided by Salford Royal overnight to Stepping Hill.

“This creates a risk that expert and complex advice is not given as quickly as necessary.”

The report found that while in Mrs Crooks’ case, it could not be confirmed that the outcome would have been different if she had received earlier treatment, or there had been input earlier from a stroke consultant, in other cases of a similar matter, a delay could change the outcome.

Greater Manchester Integrated Care, which is made up of NHS organisations across the region, is under a duty to respond to the report within 56 days of the date of the report, namely by 9 January. 2026.

When contacted for comment, Greater Manchester Integrated Care Board said: “Unfortunately we are unable to provide a comment at this moment in time, as we wouldn’t provide a media comment until after we have responded to the coroner.”