Safety review for 'stairs fall' hospital

3:02am Wednesday 12th March 2008

A REVIEW of staff training and safety policies is to be carried out at a hospital where an elderly patient who clambered over a stair rail fell two storeys, an inquest was told.

Ernest Common, 73, was seriously injured when he plunged 30ft down the stairwell onto the floor of the reception area of the Friarage Hospital, in Northallerton, North Yorkshire.

He suffered broken ribs, a punctured lung, broken ankle and a gash to the head in the incident, on September 9, last year.

He died on September 21 of a multiple organ shutdown and blood poisoning caused by a perforated bowel. It is not known if this injury was caused by the fall.

An inquest into Mr Common's death at the South Tees Hospitals NHS Trust headquarters has heard from several staff who said that, while they were aware of safety and training policies, they had not read them all.

Yasmin Scott, a divisional manager for the Friarage Hospital, said she planned a review of training and safety policies.

She said that these were on the staff intranet.

She said: "I'm concerned that the staff don't know the policies. They are expected to read them and keep up-to-date.

"We have to change that. I appreciate the wards are busy, but they should be able to read the policies in their working day."

The inquest heard Mr Common suffered from hallucinations while in hospital.

He managed to leave without permission during his stay and was later found by police.

Then on September 9, as staff attended another patient, Mr Common, of Fernwood Close, Brompton, left his ward again.

Staff saw him with one leg over a second-storey banister and urged him to come back. He fell down the stairwell.

Dr David Spence, of the Friarage, said Mr Common, a former Hong Kong Police chief inspector, suffered spells of delirium.

He said it was possible he had been suffering such a spell at the time and may have believed someone was chasing him.

The inquest is due to conclude today.

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