A 90-YEAR-OLD woman who suffered three falls in hospital died after staff failed to properly care for her.

Widow Ivy Bunn had lived alone for three years and was described by family as an "independent and capable woman".

The retired school cook had a minor fall at her Stafford home on October 31 two years ago and was taken to A&E at Stafford Hospital, where she was subsequently diagnosed with kidney failure.

But Mrs Bunn had three further falls in hospital during the next four days, one of which caused her to hit her head on a table and end up lying in a pool of blood.

The final fall lead to the pensioner's death on November 6, an inquest into her death heard yesterday.

But it was only after Mrs Bunn's second fall that nurses carried out a fall risk assessment and recognised the patient was at high risk.

That assessment was part of hospital policy at the time, but it was completely neglected.

Medical notes showed that checks and fluid records were also neglected for two days.

The hospital's Dr George Jacob said: "In the emergency assessment unit she fell and sustained a cut.

"The hospital falls policy was not followed and the neuro observations should have been carried out every two to four hours."

Senior sister Joanne Perry, of the assessment unit, said the falls assessment wasn't widely publicised at the time and wasn't done for many elderly people coming into the unit.

"She had two falls in the unit and there was no communication with her family about these," the nurse added.

"Our incident reporting system has changed and the organisation has reduced falls by using new equipment to alert staff when a patient is moving and using lower beds."

Mrs Bunn, of Bramall Lane, spent three days in the assessment unit before being moved to ward 10 under the management of sister Julie Purslow.

The nurse said: "When Mrs Bunn arrived on my ward she was confused and could not follow simple instructions.

"At that time we were unable to provide the one-to-one support."

The episode came seven months after the end of a three year period at the hospital when between 400 and 1,200 more people died than expected.

Since Mrs Bunn's death the number of beds on the ward is fewer and, if a patient is a fall risk, a yellow triangle is placed by their bed so staff are alerted.

South Staffordshire Coroner Andrew Haigh recorded a narrative verdict, saying: "It think it is arguable whether this was gross neglect or not.

"There were obvious failures in the care but is there a causal link with the death? I think not.

"I do not think other actions would have stopped Mrs Bunn from falling."

Speaking directly to Mrs Bunn's family, Mr Haigh added lessons had been learned at the hospital.

"I fully realise those final days in hospital were awful for you and for your mother," he said.

In a statement released following the hearing, Mrs Bunn's family said: "Ivy was a much loved mother and grandmother and we miss her very much.

"We were appalled at the lack of care shown to her by the medical and nursing staff at the hospital in the last days of her life.

"We are glad this inquest has highlighted our concerns and we are now able to move on."