A CUMBRIAN NHS Trust investigation has concluded that it has ‘no concerns’ about the care of a woman who died after falling in Carlisle’s Cumberland Infirmary, despite admitting that some actions did not always comply with Trust policy, an inquest has heard.

Patricia Margaret Bell, 68, of Firleigh, Kirkby Stephen, succumbed to a head injury on March 24, 2022, which she sustained after falling in the Beech Ward, where she was a patient.

Mrs Bell, who was a ‘very liked person’ with ‘many friends’, according to a statement submitted to the Coroner’s Court in Cockermouth by her husband John Bell.

She had been an artist, making bronze figurines for local company Heredities, as well as driving a school minibus in the Eden town.

However, Mrs Bell, a smoker, was diagnosed with lung cancer in March 2021.

She visited her GP on March 4, 2022, complaining of a cough and shortness of breath and was admitted to the Acute Medical Unit at Cumberland Infirmary that day.

She was transferred to Beech Ward on March 11, where, having been identified as a ‘falls risk’,  and suffered two unwitnessed falls on March 14 and 16, the second of which caused a bleed on her brain, a CT scan identified.

The incident occurred at around 6.10am, and Mrs Bell was found more than two metres from her bed, and was thought to have been trying to reach the bathroom.

Doctors judged that she was unlikely to survive any surgery, and she was placed in end-of-life care, and passed away on March 24, with her family present.

Mrs Caroline Lodge, a ward sister, led the investigation into the incident, revealing that a number of issues, including staff shortages, led to protocol not being followed, but that measures to improve this have been effective.

Mrs Bell tested positive for Covid-19 when admitted to hospital, and was therefore housed in a cubicle with a closed door.

Mrs Lodge said that ‘zoning’ where high-risk patients can be nurse3d in close proximity, making  management easier for staff, was not possible in her case due to the need for her separation.

She said that staff sickness and maternity leave meant that the ward was very short-staffed at the time, and that March 16 was ‘particularly short’.

She also said that staff had requested additional support from the enhanced care support team to provide one-to-one care for Mrs Bell, but that no staff were available.

Several risk assessment reports, due daily, had not been completed, and Mrs Lodge could provide no evidence that staff had attempted to secure a sensor pad for Mrs Bell’s mattress, which would have alerted staff if she tried to get up.

The ward had an ‘insufficient number of working sensors’, According to Mrs Lodge.

Mrs Lodge said the situation is now ‘much-improved’, after a successful recruitment drive, leading to higher levels of compliance and training.

Area Coroner for Cumbria, Kirsty Gomersal, concluded that Mrs  Bell’s death was accidental, caused by a traumatic intercranial hemorrhage, due to a fall.