DOCTORS who treated a woman who died following routine surgery seven years ago should have waited before operating and should not have moved her to another hospital, expert witnesses have said.

Carmel Bloom, who was 54 and lived in Snakes Lane East, Woodford Green, died in August 2002 after an operation to have a kidney stone removed at Bupa Roding (now Spire).

She developed a kidney infection and suffered fluid on the lungs, blood poisoning and finally a heart attack after a string of failures following the operation.

John Hines, a consultant urological surgeon, and Dr Paul Timmis, an anaesthetist, treated Ms Bloom at Bupa Roding and have both admitted to failings before Ms Bloom's death.

Speaking at an ongoing fitness to practise hearing of the General Medical Council today, expert witness David Tolley, a urologist based in Edinburgh, said he would have waited until the morning after Ms Bloom was first seen to carry out surgery.

He said: “I would have given her a course of antibiotics with four-hourly observations at that stage and reassessed her in the morning.”

And Dr Paul Lawler, a retired intensive care anaesthetist, added that he believed Ms Bloom was not stable enough to be moved to the intensive care unit at Whipps Cross University Hospital after she developed complications.

He said: “The patient was about to go from one place of safety to another place of safety separated by a period of time where she would have been in an unsafe area, unmonitored and moving.”

Ms Bloom's brother Bernard has been fighting to find out the truth about what happened to his sister ever since her death.

He believes poor care from medical staff at the hospital contributed to her death but the hearing did not commence until the beginning of this year, following three inquests.

Dr Timmis admitted all the allegations of failure levelled against him earlier in the hearing at the GMC, while Mr Hines denied he should have waited to carry out surgery.

He also denied that his actions fell below expected standards and both men deny misconduct and impaired fitness to practise.

The hearing continues.