Investigation and inquest
On 11 November 2024 I commenced an investigation into the death of Dennis Keith Price. The investigation concluded at the end of the inquest . The conclusion of the inquest was:
Accidental death
1a Subdural haemorrhage
1b Fall
1c
II
Circumstances of the death
This case relates to the death of Dennis Keith Price a 71 year old male who passed away on 28th October 2024 following admission to the Doncaster Royal Infirmary on the 24th October 2024 due to acute limb weakness and being unable to weight bear. On the 28th October in the afternoon, he suffered a fall when making his way unescorted to the toilet. There was some delay in him being attended to by nurses and helped him to bed and doctor's assessment shortly after that revealed a Glasgow Coma Score of 15. The inpatient post falls review was not fully completed in that there was no indication as to whether the question with regard to head injury was ‘yes’ or ‘no’ or ‘don’t know’. There is no reference to Mr Price’s blood thinning medication being a factor. There was no clear direction from the attending doctor as to the frequency or neurological observations which were merely stated to be that he was to be observed for two hours. Furthermore, the recorded (and deteriorating) Glasgow Coma Score triggered three escalations through the Nerve Centre System the first of which was not completed until several hours (the following morning) after the alert triggered.
As it was, between Glasgow Coma Score checks there was a catastrophic deterioration when he dropped from a score of 13 to 6 leading to Mr Price passing away later on that evening on the 28th October from a subdural haemorrhage.
Coroner’s concerns
1. Failure to properly complete the inpatient post fall review.
2. No clear plan for frequency of neurological observations and duration of the same and associated lack of clear direction from the attending Doctor following a fall.
3. The efficiency of the Nerve Centre system escalations in that any triggers must be followed up and properly completed on the system for the nerve centre system to be fully effective.