Manchester Royal Infirmary: Hospital patient died after eating chicken sandwich suspected of containing listeria, investigation finds

Two women died at a Manchester hospital after eating chicken mayonnaise sandwiches suspected of containing listeria, an inquest heard.

Beverley Sowah, 57; Enid Heap, 84In 2019, patients at Manchester Royal Infirmary (MRI) were given sandwiches for several days.

The women, who had underlying health conditions, died days after eating the pre-prepared sandwiches, sparking an investigation into the incident. National Listeria Epidemicthere are cases outside the hospital.

Listeria can contaminate many foods and can cause a disease called listeriosis, which can be fatal in people with weakened immune systems.

Ms. Sowah, a retired nurse, underwent an MRI on April 15, 2019, suffering from advanced breast cancer. She received the sandwich two days later and died on April 26.

The court heard there was no evidence Ms Sowa’s care was “sub-optimal” other than a “hospital-acquired” listeria infection.

Ms Shipp, a mother-of-five, had an MRI on March 25, 2019, and ate the same type of sandwich on April 18. She died on May 6.

This is the first time the two women have been photographed since their deaths.

Manchester Coroner’s Court heard the source of the bacteria was linked to an external food supplier, rather than MRI’s kitchen.

Lawyers for Salford-based North Country Quality Food, which supplies chicken to Good Food Chain – both of which have gone bankrupt since the incident – are taking part in a joint investigation into two women.

Staffordshire-based Good Food Chain produces sandwiches for its ‘Whole Lotta Good’ range and supplies them to hospitals. They make up to 40,000 sandwiches a day and supply about 70 hospitals.

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Manchester City Coroner Zak Golombeck said: “This case involves the deaths of two people and there is reason to suspect that they died from a notifiable disease, namely listeria.”

Golombek said the “main hypothesis” is that the source of the listeria infection was the chicken sandwiches eaten by the two women.

The Manchester listeria outbreak had the same genetic link to another listeria outbreak in Liverpool, the hearing was told.

The investigation is expected to last up to five days.