Care home grandmother had sores down to bone

A grandmother-of-five died of septicaemia after suffering pressure wounds that went as deep as her bones at a care home in the Black Country, an inquest heard.

Alice Cattell, aged 77, had the wounds for weeks while at Mill House Care Home, Bilston.

Yesterday's inquest heard how charts documenting how many times staff at the £500-a-week facility had turned her in her bed were incomplete, with gaps over periods of up to three weeks.

Her appalled family moved her to a nursing home, The Cottage in Blakenall Heath, Walsall, shortly before Mrs Cattell's death at Walsall Manor Hospital in June 2010.

The inquest, held at the coroner's court at the hospital, heard that widow Mrs Cattell was suffering from two serious pressure sores, one the size of a dinner plate across her buttocks and another one on her hip, along with a less serious sore on her foot.

Coroner Robin Balmain heard that the two serious sores were graded as four, the most serious possible, and went down as far as her bones.

Tissue viability nurse Susan Durrant, from NHS Wolverhampton, gave evidence that after examining Mrs Cattell when her sores had got particularly bad, she asked the home to ensure she was turned every hour.

In his verdict, Mr Balmain raised concerns about the "huge gaps" in records relating to turning Mrs Cattell.

"Anybody looking at the charts can see they are completely haphazard. There are huge gaps in them," he said.

"When entries are made they are not always signed by the member of staff who carried out the turn, and at best, practice is sloppy. At worst it may be that these turns were not being carried out at all.

"It seems to me highly likely that this turning regime was not fully implemented."

He recorded a verdict of death by natural causes exacerbated by the failure to implement fully an appropriate regime to deal with pressure sores. Nischa Pritchard, the manager of Mill House, took over shortly after Mrs Cattell was moved.

She said today: "There have been new changes made to documentation and things are being audited and checked daily."

Retired factory inspector Mrs Cattell had two children, Peter, 55, of Webster Road, Willenhall, and Diane Turner, 50, of Fairview Road, Wednesfield, as well as five grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. Grand-daughter, Joanne Nicholls, 35, of Huntingdon Road, Willenhall, said of the verdict: "It was the best we were going to get. All we can say is perhaps no-one else will suffer the same."

She said the family were now looking to take legal action against the care home.