A CORONER has accused an Oxford hospital of neglect following the death of a woman who was left untreated for more than a year after her illness was detected.

Experts said that Shirley Cyprien would still be alive if she had received treatment for high calcium levels.

Doctors discovered the mother-of-one had the condition after arriving at the John Radcliffe Hospital's accident and emergency department complaining of back pains.

But they discharged her the same day and failed to notify her GP or an appropriate specialist leaving her calcium levels to continue rising, eventually causing her heart to shut down.

Miss Cyprien's family doctor Robert Stevens said a "relatively simple" surgical procedure would have solved the problem, and the 44-year-old was likely to have made a full recovery.

Instead, she was found dead in bed at home in Falcon Close, Blackbird Leys, by her mother Augustin on June 25, 2003, 16 months after her admission to A&E.

Pathologist Dr Peter Millard said the cause of death was high calcium levels caused by a benign tumour on a parathyroid gland, which regulates the body's calcium. He said surgery would have cured the problem.

Oxfordshire coroner Nicholas Gardiner said he would tell the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust to change procedures to ensure GPs were informed of abnormal blood test results, and Miss Cyprien's family called for the hospital to make sure the circumstances were never repeated.

Miss Cyprien who worked as an administrative assistant at the JR's special care baby unit was first treated by A&E associate specialist Dr Bryan Todd, who discovered she was suffering high calcium levels from blood tests.

When his morning shift finished, he said he passed on the results to Dr Elisa Kam, a junior doctor in her first week at the hospital, now based in Australia, and told her it needed to be investigated.

He told the inquest at Oxford Coroner's Court: "I would have expected the calcium level to be communicated to the GP. There's no evidence it was from the notes."

Miss Cyprien was discharged and told to return to A&E or her GP if the pain continued, but was given no treatment.

Dr Stevens, based at East Oxford Health Centre, said he received a "standard discharge summary" from the hospital, but there was no mention of calcium levels and no indication from Miss Cyprien that she was aware of the condition.

Had his surgery been warned of the condition, further tests would have been carried out and treatment given, he said.

Mr Gardiner recorded a verdict of death by natural causes, but said he could not "avoid saying that neglect may have contributed to this".

He added: "I am rather disturbed that although procedures have now changed there seems to be no specific procedure assigned to ensure a GP is told of an abnormal result of this sort, and for that reason I shall be writing a letter to the authorities drawing attention to what seems to me to be a defect in the system."

After the inquest, Mrs Cyprien's family, who all live in Oxford mother Augustin, father Francis, younger brothers Winston, Ashley and Franklin, and sister Susan said they would be pursuing the case with the ORH Trust.

Susan said: "We were surprised to learn about the calcium levels. Shirley's doctor was surprised about it.

"It's nonsensical in this day and age that this was not communicated.

"It has shattered our trust in the NHS."