Natural causes verdict in Maypole Nursing Home death inquest

15 Mar 2010

The jury at an inquest into the death of Leslie Vines, who died just ten days after he was admitted to Maypole Nursing Home in Birmingham, has returned a verdict of natural causes.

The investigation heard that Mr Vines, who was 77 and a war veteran, was sedated and placed in a “bucket chair” which may have restricted his breathing when he had contracted a chest infection in the nursing home.

Victoria Blankstone, an expert in medical negligence at law firm Irwin Mitchell, represented Mr Vines’s family. She has called for bucket chairs to be banned in care homes for the elderly.

Mr Vines, who suffered from Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Disease, went to the Maypole Nursing Home on 27th August 2002. He has just been discharged from Heartlands Hospital and was considered physically fit. However, just ten days later he died from broncho pneumonia after a deterioration in his condition that was not communicated to his family.

27 residents of the home died in just one year. Mr Vines’s death was one of 16 identified as giving “serious cause for concern” by the Commission for Social Care Inspection.

The home was closed down in March 2003 after a surprise inspection revealed a number of failings.

The GPs that owned the home were later struck off by the General Medical Council (GMC) for serious professional misconduct. Three nurses from the home were also struck off by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC).

Victoria Blankstone said: “This inquest has not just been about reaching a final verdict, but has been a search for answers as to how a vulnerable elderly man could be let down so badly by the health professionals whose duty it was to care for him.

“Despite previous high profile investigations, including both a GMC and NMC hearing, we still had not heard about what happened to Mr Vines in his final days.

“It is extremely regrettable that Hazel and her family have had to wait seven years to find out exactly how and why their father died. We firmly believe that an inquest investigation into his death – and indeed the other 15 residents whose deaths gave inspectors ‘serious cause for concern’ - should have been held much earlier without the need for separate Judicial Review proceedings.

“During this inquest, we have publicly heard for the first time, how bucket chairs are used for patients who are immobile, such as after a severe stroke, but their use for mobile patients can amount to restraint.  Despite being mobile, Mr Vines was placed in a bucket chair.

“None of the earlier investigations dealt with this issue or examined how this type of chair not only restrained Mr Vines’ movements but also could have made it difficult for him to breathe properly.  We heard evidence at the inquest how since 1992, there have been concerns about the risks of using restraint to immobilise patients. We are now calling for these chairs to be banned in elderly care homes.

“The inquest also revealed that Mr Vines’ family thought that he was very well cared for over the 6 months that he was at Heartlands Hospital, even though it was a busy surgical ward, with no special provision for dealing with his special mental health needs. The family anticipated he would be even better cared for at the Maypole – a home which claimed to be a specialist EMI unit – but was sadly lacking in even the most basic care provision.

“During the inquest we had the opportunity to examine the actions of government agencies who visited and reported on failings at the Maypole on no less than 17 separate occasions before finally taking the decision to close it down.

“This highlights the much wider issues of both a desperate lack of good specialist care for our vulnerable elderly in this country and a reliable method of ensuring standards by the various government inspection bodies are upheld – something which we will continue to campaign on.”

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