Paul Chin death: Coroner criticises Ashford care home

A man suffering from a rare brain illness died after 10 months in a care home following a series of failures by staff, a coroner has ruled.

Sonia Hayes said inaction and blunders by care and medical staff constituted neglect, which contributed directly to the death of 47-year-old Paul Chin.

Mr Chin, from Margate, died from sepsis in Woodchurch House care home in Ashford, Kent, in November 2015.

Care home bosses said improvements had since been made to how it operated.

Mr Chin was moved to Woodchurch House in January 2015, after being treated in hospital for a relapse of meningeal tuberculosis (or TB meningitis), a serious and fairly rare brain infection.

But the inquest in Maidstone heard he had been confined to bed, unable to leave his room - a decision the coroner said was, "on the balance of probabilities", erroneous.

As a result, he had a catheter fitted, which, the inquest heard, caused a serious kidney infection which Ms Hayes said also contributed to his death.

'Nothing but contempt'

She said in her conclusion: "There were no risk assessments in place and care plans contained inaccurate and misleading information.

"Even if a catherisation was necessary, it carried a well-recognised risk of infection... that was not appropriately reviewed or managed."

Mr Chin's father, Terry, and sister, Sharon Biron, say they are furious with the way he was treated by care-home staff and Kent County Council's social-care team.

In a statement, they said: "We feel nothing but contempt for KCC social services, the owner and the management staff of Woodchurch House for how they failed Paul."

The care home said: "We have noted the coroner's findings and will be considering this further.

"Different systems and processes are now in place... resulting in a further improvement to the quality of care."

Kent County Council has not yet responded.

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