A FAMILY has accused Romsey hospital of negligence after an elderly patient tumbled out of his bed which didn’t have any guard rails.

Hospital managers launched an investigation and say they have carried out improvements following the death of Arthur Brandon-Jones, 95, a great-grandfather of two.

Mr Brandon-Jones had suffered a haematoma – a brain clot – probably when he fell at home in Botley Road, Romsey, on March 7, an inquest heard.

His daughter, Sarah Bennett, was unhappy about aspects of care he received at Romsey and also at Southampton General Hospital where initially no brain scan was carried out that would have spotted the clot.

The inquest heard that at SGH he expressed a wish to go home, and doctors discharged him to Romsey Community Hospital for rehabilitation.

Giving evidence, Dr Sarah Gilson, a specialist in geriatric medicine at SGH, said she was “horrified” when she learnt Mr Brandon-Jones had died of a haematoma, or brain clot, as he had scored highly in neurological tests.

Dr Gilson said: “I had been in post for about six months. I felt I did a good assessment. I was horrified that I might have missed it at that stage.”

Then at Romsey Hospital Mr Brandon-Jones suffered a further fall on March 13 when he fell out of bed.

The hospital did not have any bedrails available for the type of bed he was given, according to head of nursing Rachel Marsh.

Following the fall doctors believed he may have a haematoma and so he was readmitted to SGH where a scan confirmed it.

An operation drained the haematoma on March 16. But after that he developed a chest infection. He underwent more surgery, which angered his family who say this was against his wishes, his condition declined and he died on April 19.

His family said they were upset a scan wasn’t carried out at SGH which may have revealed the clot, and also say that Romsey Hospital should have had a bed with rails.

His daughter, Sarah Bennett, said: “I was told by one of the consultants they would not do any more surgery but 48 hours later they did it again and I promised him they would not do any more surgery.

“He then deteriorated and he passed away later, had he been scanned when he should have been maybe that would not have happened, he was a wonderful person and he did not deserve the horrible end he had.”

Senior coroner Grahame Short recorded a verdict of accidental death. He said: “This was an accidental death. The accident happened when he fell at his home in the shower which led to the sequence of events which led to his death.”

After the hearing Ms Bennett said: “He was sent to Southampton General Hospital where he was not scanned so after two to three nights he was discharged where the negligence of Romsey Hospital allowed him to fall out of bed where the ward was full, which caused him further confusion and injuries.”

She paid tribute to her father, and said: “He was a larger than life and had a great sense of humour and he was a huge Saints fan. Everybody loved him even the traffic wardens and he always had a joke with them.”

Daily Echo:

PICTURED: Romsey Hospital

Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust, which operates Romsey hospital, say they are making improvements.

Julia Lake, Divisional Head of Nursing and Allied Health Professionals said: “We were very sorry to hear of Arthur’s death and would like to offer our sincere condolences to his family and friends at this difficult time.

“Following the death, we immediately began an investigation to review the support we had given Arthur whilst he was in our care.

“The report highlighted a number of issues we are working hard to improve, particularly, communication between our own staff and partner organisations as well as responding more rapidly to families’ concerns.

“We have already implemented a number of changes to address the issues raised in the report. We will also be sharing the learning from this incident through local and divisional governance meetings in order to develop best practice in all inpatient services.”

  • Gail Byrne, director of nursing at University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We would like to express our condolences to Mr Brandon-Jones’s family following their loss and our thoughts and sympathies remain with them.

“Every effort was made to provide the best possible care to Mr Brandon-Jones in the most appropriate environment. Sadly, despite intervention to reduce the size of a bleed on his brain after returning to our care following another fall, his condition deteriorated.

“We will continue to offer our support to his family and would urge them to contact us if they have any further questions or concerns so we can address them directly.”