Care home patient Gloria Forrester died of neglect

The two day inquest was held at Ruthin coroner's office

An 80-year-old patient died as a result of neglect at a former Conwy county care home, an inquest has concluded.

Gloria Forrester died in hospital after developing a pressure sore at the now-closed Halewood home, Rhos-on-Sea.

An ex-worker said she mentioned the sore to the care home owner Maureen Parry every day.

Recording a narrative conclusion, assistant coroner Nicola Jones said there was a "gross failure to procure basic medical attention".

She was admitted to hospital on 19 July 2016 and died two weeks later.

Giving evidence on the second day of the hearing in Ruthin, Denbighshire, Mrs Forrester's GP, Dr Colin Thackray, said he was called to the home on 28 June 2016 by Mrs Parry.

He was told Mrs Forrester was constipated, but he said he was not told she had not had a bowel movement for six weeks or had rectal bleeding.

Social worker Catherine McKenzie carried out a review on behalf of Conwy council.

She said there were a number of areas of concern at the care home, including a lack of monitoring of residents.

'Deterioration'

She said records were inadequate and substantial improvements were needed.

Soon after being told to provide an action plan, Mrs Parry closed the care home.

Mrs Parry previously told the inquest that she had "never put anything on one side or neglected it, never".

Ms McKenzie said, on the balance of probability, a failure to alert medical practitioners to the pressure sore earlier was an incidence of neglect which led to Mrs Forrester's death.

Giving her conclusion, Ms Jones said staff at the care home were not sufficiently trained to spot and manage pressure sores.

"They only described Mrs Forrester as having a sore bottom," she said.

"She was in such a poor state of deterioration when she arrived at hospital, that despite the best efforts of staff, she died."

Ms Jones said she was satisfied there was a repeated failure to get treatment for Mrs Forrester, and if she had received medical attention earlier, it would have prolonged her life.