Business owner left dependent on carers after delays and problems in care at scandal-hit NHS Trust

Tony Mardell, formerly a successful local business owner, waited more than a year between his tumour being detected and him being operated on, despite experiencing increasingly serious seizures.

After numerous rounds of surgery, he now relies on his family and carers to enable him to retain some independence. He has also been forced to close his kitchen appliances business, which has placed huge financial strain on him, his wife Sandra, and their two children.

The care he experienced at the University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust is now being investigated by Sussex Police, as part of its Operation Bramber probe into allegations of sub-standard care and negligence in the Trust’s neurosurgery department.

“I am trapped in my chair every day. My quality of life is so poor that I believe without my family and friends, I couldn’t continue with life,” says 63-year-old Tony, from East Preston in Sussex.

“I’m constantly in pain and have very limited mobility. I used to be a very sociable person, I enjoyed playing tennis and ran a successful business, but now I have virtually no interaction with the outside world. Because adaptations haven’t yet been made to our house, I haven’t had a shower in over a year.

“I feel like a shell of a person and we receive no support. I have worked all my life but now our savings are almost wiped out as we try and survive after what has happened – not just to me, but to my wife and our children, who I know struggle as much as I do.”

“Tony has been through so many operations, at one point we were advised to say goodbye as he might not make it – but despite his brain injury and lack of mobility, we do not have any support, no rehabilitation, nothing,” says Sandra.

“We have all but been forgotten about. Despite the possibility of more problems, and the pain and headaches Tony continues to experience, he has not had a CT scan since June 2023. This is an ongoing nightmare for us.”

Tony was first told about his tumour after an MRI scan in September 2020, but was assured it should cause no symptoms and was unlikely to impact his life.

However, shortly afterwards he began to experience seizures, which increased in their severity – and it took eight months, until May 2021, for medics at the scandal-hit University Hospitals Sussex to decide they needed to operate.

Tony was told he needed an operation to remove the tumour, known as a meningioma – but despite the increasing pain and seizures he was experiencing, his operation was not scheduled until August 2021.

It was then cancelled three times in August and September due to a lack of available beds at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton – and only went ahead when he had a life-threatening seizure and needed an urgent operation.

Sadly, after his operation, Tony has experienced significant problems – suspected to be due to an infection – which have meant he has undergone several surgeries since, and have left him with permanent mobility problems.

He relies on the care of Sandra and their two children, aged 21 and 16, and has carers come in four times a day to help him get in and out of bed and carry out personal care. Tony receives no community rehabilitation to support with his mobility or quality of life, and the initial physiotherapy sessions he received from University Hospitals Sussex have not continued due to pressure on resources.

“I have been through such a lot of pain, heartache and anguish, and I need to know what went wrong and why. This cannot happen to another family, I don’t want anyone else to go through what we are living with every day,” says Tony.

As well as the Sussex Police investigation, Tony and Sandra have also turned to Slater and Gordon for support. The law firm is acting for many other families impacted by poor care at the University Hospitals Sussex – including several whose cases which form part of Operation Bramber.

Nisha Sharma, principal lawyer, says: “Tony has been through such a horrific ordeal, and sadly this continues to be something he and his family live with the consequences of every day.

“There are many questions around the care Tony received from University Hospitals Sussex and exactly what happened to change his life from that of a successful and sociable business owner, to being wholly dependent on his wife and carers to help with even the most basic of tasks.

“Understandably, this is utterly devastating for the whole family – but we are absolutely committed to supporting them in finding the answers they need and deserve.”