Nursing home ‘committed to do better’ after elderly dementia patient’s death, Coroner

A DARWIN aged care home where an elderly dementia patient was living when she died after a fall in 2018 has made ‘changes and commitments’ to improve, a coroner has found

Barbara Francis’s children Melissa Clifton, Andrew Francis, Rebecca Kilpatrick and Natalie Fielder speak to the media outside an inquest into her death in Darwin in November. Picture: Jason Walls

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A DARWIN aged care home where an elderly dementia patient was living when she died after a fall in 2018 has made “changes and commitments” to improve, a coroner has found.

Barbara Francis, 78, died in September 2018 after being admitted to Royal Darwin Hospital for surgery on a broken hip following the fall at the Pearl aged care home in Fannie Bay.

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After an inquest into Mrs Francis’s death last month, Coroner Elisabeth Armitage found Pearl had accepted it had failed Mrs Francis and was “understaffed” on the day she died following an altercation with another patient.

“Had the staffing roster and important directive been complied with and had the (community support worker) been adequately orientated to the site and the client, the entire incident resulting in Mrs Francis’s fall could have been avoided,” she said.

“In those circumstances it is likely that Mrs Francis would not have died when she did.”

But Ms Armitage did not make any recommendations, “given the changes made and commitments given” by site manager Janet Marlborough.

“We have done a lot to overcome the gaps that we’ve had,” Mrs Marlborough said.

“It has been identified that there are still some things we can improve and we give the family the commitment that we will.”

The inquest also heard Mrs Francis lay on the floor for more than an hour after her fall waiting for an ambulance to arrive but Ms Armitage accepted St John had also made adequate changes to address the issues.

“The delay in the dispatching the ambulance to Pearl nursing home did not cause or contribute to Mrs Francis’s death,” she said.

Mrs Francis’s daughter Rebecca Kilpatrick, told the inquest she hoped the inquiry would “make Pearl the nursing home that it should be”.

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“Most of the elderly that are in your care helped build this town — the least we can do is ensure that their final days are lived in a dignified and loving manner,” she said.

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