A coroner has warned more deaths could occur at a mental health hospital where three people died from choking on food.
Ravi Sidhu has written to Prospect Park Hospital in Reading with concerns about staff communication, training, and the care of patients at risk of choking.
It comes after evidence in a patient’s inquest raised “matters of concern”.
The death of a mental health patient who choked on a McDonald’s meal in an ambulance has been ruled accidental.
David Scales, 68, requested the food at Watford Gap services on the M1 in Northamptonshire, as he was taken from London to Leeds on 3 January 2017.
He fell unconscious and died on 11 January at Northampton General Hospital after a week in a coma.
A CQC inspector visiting an ‘inadequate’ Worcester care home had to intervene to prevent a potential “choking hazard” after a person with dementia was given a cake and tried to eat the paper packaging.
Inspectors said staff at Teme Court, in Old Road, Lower Wick, “didn’t always protect people’s right to dignity” citing an occasion when a resident’s jumper had ‘ridden up’ exposing their body and staff had walked past them without offering to help.
A hospital where three patients died from choking-related incidents also dealt with three similar, but non-fatal, cases.
The deaths at Prospect Park Hospital in Reading were publicised following a watchdog inspection, but the trust has now confirmed the three further cases.
A man in a nursing home died after choking on a piece of bread given to him by a fellow resident, an inquest has heard.
Patrick Byrne (75) suffered a cardiac arrest after he choked on the piece of bread at TLC Centre, Straffan Road, Maynooth, Co Kildare on January 17th, 2017
The man, who was on a liquid-only diet, was seated at a table in the dining room where residents were having bread and tea.
Less than 5 months since it first saved a life in the UK, and under a year since it was launched in the UK, Dechoker has once again prevented another care home resident from a choking death.
Set in the beautiful yet somewhat remote rolling fields of the Essex countryside, Dudbrook Hall dates back to the 15th Century and provides care for the elderly, those with memory impairments and Dementia.
A three day inquest at Reading Town Hall has started into the death of Anne Roberts.
A mental health patient was warned to sit up moments before she choked to death on a slice of chocolate cake, an inquest has heard.
Dechoker are pleased to announce they have recorded their 5th life saved in the UK after their Airway-Clearance Device was called upon last week, this time at a Nursing Home in Oxfordshire.
As in all 4 previous cases, a piece of food had became stuck in a resident’s airway and who was now rapidly turning blue.
