Source · Prevention of Future Deaths

Stanley Bere

Ref: 2014-0339 Date: 4 Jul 2014 Coroner: Penelope Schofield Area: West Sussex Responses identified: 1 / 2 View PDF

Poorly maintained Cardex and incident reporting systems, with unrecorded information and lack of cross-referencing, directly led to injuries not being promptly identified or followed up by staff.

Date 4 Jul 2014
56-day deadline 29 Aug 2014 est.
Responses identified 1 of 2
Care Home Health related deaths

Coroner's concerns

AI summary
Poorly maintained Cardex and incident reporting systems, with unrecorded information and lack of cross-referencing, directly led to injuries not being promptly identified or followed up by staff.
View full coroner's concerns
_ (1) There was evidence provided at the Inquest that showed that the Cardex system used at the home was not being properly completed. Dates on occasions, appeared to be out of order and important information such where a patient had fallen was not being recorded. Family concerns also did not appear to always be recorded.

(2) Incident reports were being completed but in Mr Bere's case his incident report was not followed up or updated even when further information was available as to the extent of Mr Bere's injury.

(3) The lack of cross referencing or monitoring of these Cardex system and the Incident reports appears to have been the reason why Mr Bere's injuries were not picked up soon by staff:

Responses

1 respondent
Older Peoples Services
15 Aug 2014 PDF
Action Taken

Older Peoples Services has tightened reporting systems for falls and accidents, introduced a more secure system of archiving, and now ensures they have copies of district nurses' records for residents. The home manager regularly checks that issues are recorded and followed up. (AI summary)

View full response
Dear May they again They We

We appreciate that this report is specifically for us and are happy to provide details of our actions but it is disappointing that there is no mention of the verbal summing up of the narrative verdict where it was acknowledged that there were missed opportunities by all parties involved and that other professionals also had to play in the outcome_ We note that we were given 56 days to respond to your report, which was dated 4 July
2014. However, the accompanying letter sent by your office is dated 24 July 2014, thus giving us only 35 to respond_

Report sections

Investigation and inquest
On 29 April 2014 held and concluded an inquest (and investigation) into the death of Stanley Bere, aged 89 years old. The formal conclusion was that Stanley Bere, died on 4th June 2012 from congestive cardiac failure and bronchopneumonia; He had been immobile for some time following an assisted fall on 31st October 2011_ some 8 months earlier; in which he suffered a fractured ankle This fractured ankle together with the subsequent infection contributed to his death
Circumstances of the death
Mr Bere had been a resident of the Villa Adastra nursing home since December 2009. He had during that time suffered a number of falls. On 31st October 2011 he had another fall; An incident report was completed where it was noted that he had suffered no injuries: The fall was not recorded at the time on the home's Cardex system: Mr Bere had in fact sustained a serious injury in the fall to his ankle. It then appeared that there were many missed opportunities by the staff at the home to spot these injuries: The family raised concerns on a number of occasions but it was not until 8"h November 2011 that action was taken and the true extent of Mr Bere's injury was discovered. His ankle had been fractured in two places which was required to be pinned in the Hospital_ After this procedure he returned back to the Care Home. A few weeks later the District nurse realised that one of the implanted screws was visible and the area was infected Again this was not picked up by the Care Home_ Mr Bere was readmitted to hospital where the screws were removed and the infection was treated. As a result of the ongoing infection all the metalwork had to be removed and this took place on 23rd May 2012. Sadly Mr Bere did not recover from this medical intervention he slowly deteriorated and died on 4th June 2012
Action should be taken
In my opinion action should be taken to prevent future deaths and believe you ANDIOR your organisation has the power to take such action: and

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Report details

Reference
2014-0339
Date of report
4 July 2014
Coroner
Penelope Schofield
Coroner area
West Sussex

Responses identified

Responses identified 1 of 2
1 response not yet linked

Organisations named in PFD reports are normally expected to respond within 56 days. Deadline: 29 Aug 2014 (estimated).

Sent to

Salvation Army
Villa Adastra Care Home

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