Carer admits neglect after man dies in drug mix-up

Jane Barnard, 66, worked as a care assistant at the Gloucester home for 32 years

A care home worker has admitted neglect of a resident who died after she gave him someone else's medication, a court has heard.

Jane Barnard, 66, of Longlevens, Gloucester, denies the manslaughter of 75-year-old Derek Davies on 8 September 2021 at Wheatridge Court in Abbeydale.

Ms Barnard, who had been employed as a care worker at the Gloucester home for 32 years, admitted a second charge of neglect - that between 5 and 9 September 2021 she failed to report that she had wrongly administered morphine to Mr Davies.

Jurors at Gloucester Crown Court heard Ms Barnard wrongly gave Mr Davies medication meant for another resident, including a dose of 90mg of slow-release morphine.

The original cause of death was documented as a brainstem stroke but it was later understood Mr Davies' actual cause of death was a consequence of morphine toxicity.

The court heard that on the morning of 6 September 2021 Ms Barnard erroneously gave Mr Davies medication prescribed for another patient, Jason Dodsworth.

Instead of reporting what had happened immediately, Ms Barnard took steps to conceal what she had done, the prosecution told the court.

Alexandra Healy KC, prosecuting, said: "When she realised her mistake, which she did shortly afterwards, rather than report it immediately, which she should have done so that urgent medical advice could be obtained, she not only told nobody but she covered her tracks to conceal what she had done.

"She concealed and disposed of the medication she should have given him that morning… She claimed she had accidentally dropped Mr Dodsworth's medication down the sink."

'I just panicked'

That afternoon, Mr Davies become very unwell and was losing consciousness which caused Ms Barnard to dial 999 and request an ambulance.

The defendant did not tell staff at the care home or the paramedics what she had done nor a doctor who called the home once Mr Davies had arrived at hospital and queried Mr Davies' pinpoint pupils and laboured breathing, which were signs of opioid use.

Ms Healy said: "She had clearly recognised her mistake and, not only did she not report it, but she took deliberate steps to conceal what happened.

"Had she not administered him with that morphine or had she reported promptly, when she realised what she had done, Mr Davies would not have died.

"Her breaches of her duty of care to Mr Davies were so serious that the prosecution say they are properly characterised as criminal."

On the afternoon of Wednesday 8 September the defendant admitted to the care home deputy manager she had given Mr Davies the wrong medication, without knowing that he had already died in hospital that morning.

Ms Barnard admitted what had happened to the deputy home manager in a call.

"I can't believe what I've done," she said. "I just panicked."

Upon finding out later that night that Mr Davies had died she said: "Oh God, oh God, he's passed away.

"I don't know why I didn't say something sooner. I was scared to death."

Andrew Langdon KC, defending, said: "She accepts that her mistake and her failure to own up to it when she should have done was in breach of her duty of care to Mr Davies. It was, as the prosecution says, given her experience and her character, inexplicable – she panicked."

Mr Langdon said a question he will be asking the jury to consider is whether the risk of death or the risk of serious illness was obvious to Ms Bernard.

The trial continues.