Scunthorpe Hospital 'Should Keep At-Risk Patients Safe From Harm'
3rd February 2014
A report into the death of a 90-year-old man at Scunthorpe General Hospital concluded that hospital staff should provide extra support to keep people at risk of falls safe.
The Scunthorpe Telegraph reports that Stefan Lewandowski died on January 31st 2013 after falling on a ward in the hospital three days earlier.
His inquest was told that he may have also fallen over on January 26th, with a nurse saying staff could have sat with him had there been more workers available.
Mr Lewandowski, who was originally from Poland, was admitted to the hospital on January 5th. He had acute cholangitis and had also been diagnosed with a malignant melanoma.
The inquest heard Mr Lewandowski’s fall on January 28th caused a head injury, which left him unresponsive for hours. Coroner Paul Kelly recorded a verdict of death by accidental fall in hospital.
Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Hospitals Trust conducted a Serious Untoward Incident report. This report encouraged staff to escalate the requirement for additional support when necessary and recommended that these escalations should be made to the facility’s head of nursing for medicine.
A range of other changes have been made at the hospital that should also reduce the risk of patient slips, trips and falls, including the provision of special gripped socks, assessment of patients, slips, trips and falls checks on at-risk patients, and the installation of sensor pads under sheets and mattresses that will alert staff if at-risk patients get out of bed.
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