Bleach tablet death inquest hears of ambulance delay

Balmoral Court nursing home has since brought in trolleys with lockable cupboards

A care home resident waited over three hours for an ambulance after eating bleach tablets, an inquest has heard.

Staff at Balmoral Court in Byker, Newcastle called 999 five times but each crew was diverted to other call-outs.

Joe Serginson, 85, who had diabetes and dementia, took a tub of the corrosive chlorine tablets from a trolley while staff were cleaning up a mess.

Senior carer Jennifer Bolam said she tried to get them out of his mouth.

"It was so fast, he had put his hand in the jar, grabbed the tablets and put them in his mouth," she said.

"He was chewing so fast."

Pinching chocolates

Staff knew Mr Serginson took chocolates from other people's rooms and would pick things up and try to eat them, the inquest heard.

Cleaner Jamie Forbes said the tablets looked like extra strong mints.

After eating them on 1 August last year, Mr Serginson was taken to the Royal Victoria Infirmary where doctors decided he was unlikely to recover.

He died three days later.

Acute medicine specialist Dr Christopher Gibbons said he was too frail to survive regardless of the delay but it might have made a difference for someone fitter.

The North East Ambulance Service (NEAS) had too many call-outs for the available crews to handle, Newcastle assistant coroner Karin Welsh was told.

NEAS complaints investigator Ruth Jackson told the hearing this happened daily.

More staff were to be recruited, she said.

In a narrative verdict, Ms Welsh ruled Mr Serginson "died as a result of ingestion of chlorine tablets not stored securely".

They should not have been on the trolley and assuming dementia patients could not open child-proof lids was "naive", she said.

The home no longer uses the tablets and now has trolleys with lockable cupboards, the inquest was told.

In a statement released after the hearing, Mr Serginson's widow, Maureen, 82, said: "It has been difficult to hear the findings of the inquest and ultimately how Joe's death perhaps could and should have been prevented.

"My only hope now is that lessons have been learned which will ensure that an incident like this never happens again."