The Western Trust have apologised to the family of an 83-year-old woman who suffered an undiagnosed hip fracture and died in Altnagelvin Hospital after being found on the floor by her bed.
The apology from the Western Trust came during the first day of the inquest into the death of Brigid Cavanagh of Foyle Park, who died on July 20, 2016.
A legal representative for the Western Trust apologised to Mrs Cavanagh's family for the 'circumstances surrounding the death' of their late mother.
He said the Trust are addressing a number of learning points and recommendations made in a serious adverse incident report.
Mrs Cavanagh had been suffering from 'end stage renal and cardiac failure' and was admitted to hospital after falling at home.
After Mrs Cavanagh's death, it was discovered that she had also suffered a fractured femur that had gone undiagnosed.
Mrs Cavanagh was found on the floor by her bed in the early hours of the day she was due to be discharged from hospital to go home.
Paul Cavanagh said his mother needed the use of a walking aid and his help to have limited movement. He said she suffered from osteoarthritis, osteoporosis and suffered severe swelling to her legs. He also believed that his mother had dementia, however, this was undiagnosed.
He said she had seemed 'confused, agitated' and 'in pain' when in hospital and said he felt this must have been due to the undiagnosed break in her hip.
Mr Cavanagh, who lived with and cared for his mother, said he received a call in the early hours from Altnagelvin
Hospital to inform them their mother had 'taken a turn for the worse'.
He had informed his sister when the phone rang 10 minutes later to tell the family their mother had died.
Mr Cavanagh said his mother had developed anemia, needing a blood transfusion, and had been in considerable pain when moved in and out of the bed. He said that he was alarmed that this 'didn't trigger any light bulbs about the missed fracture' and said her death was 'preventable, avoidable and certainly on the day of her death she shouldn't have died'.
Mr Cavanagh's sister, Ellen, also gave evidence and agreed with her brother that their mother was so weak and infirm that she would not have seemed capable of moving herself out of the bed at all. She described how she even had to hold a cup to her mother's lips as she was so weak.
The nurse who attended Mrs Cavanagh earlier that night had described her as, at first, 'lonely' and asking for someone to sit with her.
However, when the nurse explained they were busy but reassured her were close by and gave her the buzzer to call them, she said Mrs Cavanagh seemed 'settled' and went to sleep.
The same nurse was later called to assist when Mrs Cavanagh was found on the floor of her room. Both she and a staff nurse who carried out a risk assessment on Mrs Cavanagh earlier in the day said that they could not explain how she had ended up on the floor.
The staff nurse said he believed the Mrs Cavanagh to be at low risk of falls and wasn't moving in bed at all.
He said if he had deemed her a higher risk, bed sensors would have been considered to alert staff if she left the bed.
The inquest continues.
Pictured above: The late Mrs Brigid Cavanagh
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