Nursing home adopts bed sore policy

THE nursing home where an elderly woman developed bed sores from which she subsequently died is to refer all future bed sore cases to accident and emergency.

Leas Cross Nursing Home said the new policy would not necessarily benefit patients but was essential to protect the reputation of the facility and its staff after it received negative publicity from reports of a coroner’s court hearing. The move follows the inquest on Wednesday into the death of 73-year-old Dorothy Black at Beaumont Hospital, Dublin, where her family had her admitted after discovering she had developed severe bed sores during a nine-week stay at Leas Cross in late 2003.

Ms Black, who suffered from Alzheimer’s disease and was in a wheelchair, was brought to the nursing home for respite care but one of her daughters told the inquest her mother’s health deteriorated during her stay, her flesh was rotting and smelling and the family had to insist on her admission to hospital.

She died in January 2004 from septicaemia after failing to recover from the sores, one of which left her hip bone exposed. The coroner recorded a verdict of death by medical misadventure and said he would be informing the nursing home of the family’s concerns. Leas Cross owner and managing director John Aherne said yesterday his deepest sympathies were with the Black family, but he pointed out the coroner had not apportioned blame.

He insisted the home was run “to the highest standards” and was inspected by the health authorities at least every six months. His brother was in long-term care there, he said.

“What we are putting in place now is, if we have a case of a person who has bed sores, we are going to send them to casualty,” he said. This was not always best for the patient, particularly as they often had long waits on hospital trolleys before getting a bed, but he had to safeguard against the possibility of future negative reports.

Mr Aherne said his staff were “in bits” after reading the reports, which they felt reflected unfairly on them and he said the impression was wrongly given that the Black family were not told of their mother’s condition.

A member of the Black family yesterday disputed this claim but declined to comment further, saying their mother’s death was a personal tragedy and they needed to bring the matter to a close.

Leas Cross was purpose-built in Swords, Co. Dublin, seven years ago and has 90 patients. It is approved by the VHI and the three Dublin area health authorities. VHI said yesterday they only approved the home for short-stay convalescence up to 14 days.