Lawyer calls for improvements after death at nursing home

Doreen Betts was a resident at Kersal Mount Nursing Home in Broomhill, Sheffield. She passed away after developing an infection caused by pressure sores on her feet.

When the sores developed, Mrs Betts’ GP advised the nursing home to refer her to a specialist tissue viability nurse. The nursing home did not refer her and her sores worsened until they were down to the bone and severely infected.

Mrs Betts was eventually referred to hospital, by which time she was seriously ill with dehydration and renal failure.

Hospital treatment meant that Mrs Betts’ pressure sores began to improve but she sadly died on May 9th 2009, three months after her GP’s recommendation that she be referred to a specialist.

At the inquest into Mrs Betts’ death, consulting pathologist Nicholas Tiffin found that Mrs Betts would not have died had she not developed the pressure sores.

Sarah Rowland of Irwin Mitchell helped Mrs Betts’ family to agree a compensation settlement with the care home. She said: “Mrs Betts was clearly a victim of neglect. Had the nursing home acted with the proper level of care and attention, Mrs Betts would not have died in such a painful manner.

“Any level of neglect is unacceptable but what Mrs Betts went through was particularly horrific. Kersal Mount was given a clear recommendation regarding Mrs Betts’ condition by her GP, and they simply did not act upon it. That shows a blatant disregard for her wellbeing.

“This case is not about the money; our clients wanted answers and wanted to know what went wrong in their mother’s case so that they could be assured that the same thing cannot happen to anyone else.

“This case highlighted serious failings in the care Mrs Betts received and we hope that now the Nursing Home has admitted their mistakes that they will learn important lessons to prevent the same mistakes being made in the future.”