Coroner told nurse wept when shown man’s deadly sores

A NURSING manager broke down and wept when shown photographs of “horrendous” bed sores suffered by an elderly man at a nursing home, an inquest heard yesterday.

Sue Hanson was being shown post-mortem photographs of Ronald Evans’s buttocks following his death in 2003 by Insp Dean McIntyre when she began crying at what she had seen.

Mr Evans had been a patient at the now defunct Nightingales Nursing Home in Bradford from 1998 and his death sparked an in-depth police investigation but no charges were ever brought.

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Insp McIntyre told the inquest at Bradford Coroner’s Court Ms Hanson had been in overall charge of nursing at the home which closed down some years ago.

“She told me that he had been well-looked after by the trained staff.

“She was very upset when I showed her the pictures that had been taken.

“She said: ‘Oh my God! it was nowhere like that,’ she was crying.”

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Another carer at the home, Sheila Scurr was also interviewed by police and shown the photograph of Mr Evans’s bed sores.

Insp McIntyre said: “She described the photograph as ‘horrendous’.”

When re-interviewed regarding a report into the nursing home’s care of Mr Evans he said she said that “as far as she was concerned his care had been appropriate and didn’t agree with the report.”

The court heard that on November 21, the former wagon driver’s condition was deteriorating so much a doctor should have been called immediately.

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But it was not until almost a full week later, on November 27, that Mr Evans was transferred to Bradford Royal Infirmary.

By that time, the inquest was told, it was too late to do anything but try to minimise his pain and he died on December 16 of septacemia due to infection caused by deep pressure sores.

Insp McIntyre said he had also interviewed the late owner of the home, who said Mr Evans had been bought the most expensive bed available and he claimed to visit the home at least once a month.

Mrs Jacqui Fletcher, a tissue viability specialist, of the University of Hertfordshire, was said to have been “highly critical” of the standard of care available to Mr Evans in the nursing home

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Coroner Roger Whittaker recorded a verdict that Mr Evans, 75, had died of natural causes but that negligence was a contributory factor.

He said if Mr Evans had been “dealt with in the early stages there was a substantial window of opportunity for treatment to have been effective.”