Investigation and inquest
On 09/08/2017 I commenced an investigation into the death of Mildred Joan Griffiths. The investigation concluded at the end of an inquest on 16th November 2017. The conclusion of the inquest was Natural causes.
Circumstances of the death
The deceased fell from a chair at her home in May 2017 resulting in a fracture of her left distal femur, above a previous knee replacement. She was admitted to Birmingham Heartlands Hospital where she was noted to have a grade 2 sacral pressure sore. She was discharged to St Giles nursing home for care and rehabilitation on 02/06/17. She was largely bedbound and had poor nutrition and was unable to tolerate re positioning which caused the sore to deteriorate. Despite treatment she collapsed in the early hours of 03/08/17 and was declared deceased soon after arrival at hospital..
Following a post mortem, the medical cause of death was determined to be:
1a ISCHAEMIC HEART DISEASE
1b CORONARY ARTERY DISEASE
2 CARCINOMA OF LUNG WITH PNEUMONIA, PERFORATED DUODENAL ULCER WITH EARLY PERITONITIS, SACRAL PRESSURE SORE
Coroner’s concerns
1. The pressure sore risk tool used in the home is the Braden Score. The community Healthcare Trust use the Walsall score – which is nationally recognised. I note the Braden score does not take into account any existing lesion when calculating the risk which means it may under estimate the risk. In addition the Braden score calculates in an opposite way to the Walsall score – thus a low score is high risk in the Braden score, but low risk in the Walsall score. This can lead to confusion between professionals and the home should consider changing to the Walsall score.