Man’s Widow Speaks Of Hope That Lessons Will Be Learned

The family of an elderly care home resident with Alzheimer’s who died last year after ingesting chlorine cleaning tablets has urged that lessons must be learned following the conclusion of an inquest into this death.

Joe Serginson, from North Shields, was taken to the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle on August 1st 2016 after staff at Balmoral Court nursing home witnessed him gain access to an unsecured tub of chlorine cleaning tablets.

Sadly, despite treatment he passed away aged 85 just three days later, with a post mortem concluding that he died from respiratory failure due to the ingestion of chlorine tablets.

A narrative verdict was recorded at an inquest held at Newcastle upon Tyne Coroners Court today in which Assistant Senior Coroner, Karin Welsh, found that Joe had died as the result of ingesting chlorine tablets which were not stored securely.

During the inquest it was also heard how there was a delay of more than three hours between when an ambulance was called and its subsequent arrival at the home. However, it was said that the delay did not contribute to his death.

Specialist medical negligence lawyers at Irwin Mitchell were instructed by Joe’s widow, Maureen Serginson, to investigate Joe’s case shortly after his death.

Michael Scobie, the medical negligence specialist at Irwin Mitchell’s Newcastle office that is representing the family, said: “Joe’s family have stated to me as to their concerns over the care that was provided at Balmoral Court nursing home and we think this inquest’s findings sadly validate that view.

“Crown Care now needs to ensure it learns from its mistakes and we have heard how they have implemented large scale changes in light of Joe’s death.  We hope that what happened to Joe will ultimately protect other vulnerable residents of Crown Care’s nursing homes.

“Following this hearing, we are now continuing with our work to ensure that Maureen and the family gain justice regarding Joe’s death and the issues which have been identified in relation to his care.”

The inquest heard how Joe was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in July 2012 and, as a result of his care needs, was a resident at Balmoral Court. He was known to show some challenging behaviour including taking food from other residents and also from food trollies.

He was discovered to have eaten cleaning tablets from an unsecured tub on an open cleaning trolley on August 1st 2016. Staff were only partially successful at removing them from his mouth.

An ambulance was called at 2:04pm, but did not arrive until 5:12pm – three hours and eight minutes later. An internal investigation into the delay concluded there was no evidence of wrongdoing regarding the dispatch of the ambulance, as there was high demand and a lack of resource on the day in question.

Following the inquest, Maureen, 82, said: “It has been difficult to hear the findings of the inquest and ultimately how Joe’s death perhaps could and should have been prevented.

“My only hope now is that lessons have been learned which will ensure that an incident like this never happens again.”