Inquest Jury Returns Negligence Verdict Following Death of Pensioner in Nursing Home
Nursing home negligence case
The solicitor representing the family of a 74-year-old pensioner, who died after being left overnight in her wheelchair whilst in the care of a privately run nursing home, has expressed concerns about system failures which he believes contributed to her death.
A thorough investigation into how Mrs Brigid O’Callaghan (known as Vera O’Callaghan) came by her death has taken place this week, before Birmingham Coroner, Mr Aiden Cotter.
He heard during the four day inquest that Mrs O’Callaghan, formerly of Caversham Place, Sutton Coldfield, had been admitted to the BUPA-run Amberley Court Nursing Home on 26th October 2005 for what was to have been a week’s respite care, but died just two days later.
A housekeeper making her rounds at 8.30am on the morning of 28th October discovered the body of Mrs O’Callaghan in her wheelchair. It was apparent that she had not been put to bed the previous evening and that she slipped down in her wheelchair and was asphyxiated by a wheelchair strap, which caught, around her neck. Evidence given at the inquest suggested that nobody had checked on her since approximately 10.45pm the previous evening.
The nurse responsible for Mrs O’Callaghan later admitted in a hand written statement seized by West Midlands Police that she had not checked her during the night or changed her incontinence pads as required by her usual care regime, and had fabricated a note in Mrs O’Callaghan’s records the next morning suggesting that these checks had been done.
None of the care staff who gave evidence at the inquest had been trained in the correct use of the posture belt fitted to Mrs O’Callaghan’s chair, nor had they been made aware of a previous alert circulated by the MHRA drawing attention to previous similar deaths.
The family’s solicitor, Jonathan Peacock, from the Birmingham office of national law firm Irwin Mitchell, said: “The family of Vera’ O’Callaghan have suffered a great deal as a result of their mother's tragic death at Amberley Court Nursing Home. Having heard all the evidence, they are satisfied that while failings on the part of care staff are clear, they were substantially contributed to by lack of any care plan being written for Vera, poor staff communications regarding her needs, lack of supervision of staff by management and inadequate staff training.
A CSCI report in July 2005, a few months before Vera’s death, identified overburdened managers, inadequate supervision, lack of care plans and inadequate staff training as failings at the home. CSCI later discovered that these had not been fully addressed by the time of a further inspection immediately following Mrs O’Callaghan’s death.
The jury returned a verdict of accidental death to which neglect contributed and cited six separate counts of gross failure regarding procedures at the nursing home.
Mr Dennis O’Callaghan, Vera’s son, commented: “My family continue to be absolutely devastated by my Mother’s death. Although we feel that the inquest answered many of the questions surrounding her death we really feel that the nursing home is failing to accept all the lessons in needs to learn to make sure that this type of tragic incident never occurs again. The witnesses who gave evidence from BUPA all seemed more inclined to try and blame individual care staff than to acknowledge their own management failures at the home.”
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