Investigation and inquest
On 23 May 2023 an investigation was commenced into the death of Claire Homer aged 46 years. The investigation concluded at the end of the inquest held on 2nd and 11th November 2023.
The Inquest found that Claire Elizabeth Homer suffered from a debilitating constellation of physical, psychiatric and somatic illnesses, with a complex interplay between them. She was found dead in her home on 5 May 2023. Despite Post Mortem examination and toxicology, no cause of death was identified.
The medical cause of death was Unascertained.
I returned an Open Conclusion.
Circumstances of the death
Please see attached Findings of Fact.
The published report provides this section by reference to another part of the report.
Coroner’s concerns
On the 27 April 2023 Claire’s GP, ████████, wrote an email to ████████ sharing concerns around her worsening, querying the CDAT referral and suggesting family involvement in the formulation of a management plan.
Unfortunately there was no reply to this email until 5th May 2023, by which time it was too late. I do not criticise ████████ for this, as she was on holiday and thereafter catching up with what was no doubt an avalanche of emails. This does raise the question, however, of whether more robust protocols need to be in place to address the scenarios of (a) patients who are not initially deemed to require handover care but deteriorate during a member of staff’s leave and (b) both key points of contact being on leave at the same time.