Nurse denies praying while pensioner lay stricken

It had been claimed at an inquest into the death of Dorothy Griffiths that agency nurse Abdul Bhutto said he would not check on the 87-year-old until he had finished praying.

But giving evidence, Mr Bhutto, who was working at Valley Park Nursing Home in Barnsley, said he was simply sitting on a prayer mat in an office when asked to help.

The family of the victim said they were “very concerned” at the contradictory evidence given by staff, employed by the home’s owners Mimosa Healthcare Group.

Assistant deputy coroner Donald Coutts-Wood told Mr Bhutto that in the earlier hearing carer Zoe Shaw had disputed his version of events.

Mr Coutts-Wood added: “The reason she says you weren’t able to attend for five to 10 minutes is that you’re praying.” Mr Bhutto replied: “I don’t accept that.”

Mrs Shaw told the hearing she and another carer had found Mrs Griffiths on the floor, in the early hours of October 25.

She had suffered a cut to her head and a gash to her hip. Mr Bhutto examined her and she had been put back to bed. Mr Bhutto examined her a second time later in the morning and rang 999 as she seemed “quite drowsy”.

Mrs Griffiths died in hospital on November 3, from a bleed on the brain.

Mr Coutts-Wood passed a verdict of accidental death but raised concerns regarding record keeping in the home and knowing who was in charge.

Speaking after the hearing Mrs Griffiths’s son Stephen, 51, said: “I am very concerned by the contradictory evidence.

“I find it very upsetting that we get different versions from both sides, one side saying one thing and the other something else.

“I don’t dispute that it was accidental death, that my mother fell out of bed and banged her head. But the explanations for what happened are contradictory.”