Coroner pauses 30-hour chair wait woman's inquest

An elderly woman's inquest has been paused to wait for the views of a hospital where she was made to sit for 30 hours on a chair in a cold room.

Julie Price, 88, died after she was discharged from the A&E at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital where she was not given a bed.

She suffered a fall which her daughter says was the result of her ordeal.

The coroner said he is "wary" of drawing links between her death and inpatient care at this stage.

Mrs Price, of Burnett Close, Gloucester, was admitted to Gloucestershire Royal Hospital A&E on 3 July with a persistent nose bleed.

She then spent thirty hours sitting in a chair in a cold room because a bed could not be found for her.

Mrs Price was discharged the following day after her nostril had been cauterised to stop the bleeding, the inquest was told.

She was then admitted to hospital again on 7 July after the latest of a series of falls following her return home.

She remained in hospital till 26 July where she died of a traumatic subdural haematoma - a bleed on the brain.

Upon discharge, Dr Matthew Clarke had reported that Mrs Price was "alert and orientated" at 11:00 on 4 July.

Mrs Price's daughter, Nicola Grey, said she questioned this opinion as her mother was profoundly deaf and was often not alert or orientated.

"When I picked my mother up [from A&E] she was unable to stand or walk unaided," said Ms Grey.

"She was exhausted, absolutely exhausted.

"When you look at why this [her death] happened, I think it could have happened because of that experience - she was freezing cold," she added.

Ms Grey told the inquest she had sent a letter of complaint to the hospital about her mother's treatment, but has still not received a reply after waiting four months.

She told the coroner, Roland Wooderson, that she had been contacted by the hospital the day before the inquest to say that a first draft of a reply to her complaint had been written, but was not regarded as acceptable to send to her in its present form.

Upon hearing this, Mr Wooderson, decided to adjourn the inquest to await their response in case it raised relevant information regarding Mrs Price's death.

"You felt that the 30 hours in A&E might have weakened her considerably and led to her falls," said Mr Wooderson.

"My view was that I did not think there was any kind of link but now you have told me there is a report coming from the hospital I am a little bit wary about concluding the inquest now.

"It would be remiss of me to deal with it today as I don't think it would be doing justice if I did," he added.

Mrs Grey said she would inform his office once she received the hospital's response so that the inquest could be re-listed.

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