Man died in Fylde coast care home just minutes after being given his regular medication

A man died at a Blackpool care home just minutes after being given his regular prescribed medication.

An inquest at Blackpool Town Hall heard that while the medication had played no part in the death of 91-year-old dementia patient Richard Watson, staff at the Berwick House care home in South Shore had not reacted adequately to a deterioration in his condition.

Mr Watson was said to have his eyes closed but grunted before swallowing medication tablets with water at just after 8.30pm on the evening of February 27.

But the senior health care assistant who had administered the medication grew concerned at his condition and rang the NHS 111 health care advice line, then called over a colleague, who dialled 999 as Mr Watson’s breathing became laboured.

Paramedics arrived at the scene shortly after 9pm and found Mr Watson unresponsive. With a ‘do not resuscitate’ order in place, he was declared dead at the scene.

Police were called, as in the case of all sudden deaths, and found no suspicious circumstances.

A post mortem carried out by consultant pathologist Dr Darek Golka found Mr Watson’s primary cause of death to be cardio respiratory failure.

He said there was also evidence of ischemic heart disease, pulmonary emphysema and multi-organ involution - age-related, progressive atrophy and functional decline of multiple tissues and organ systems.

A toxicology test showed low levels of prescribed medication.

Mr Watson was found to be showing signs of rigor mortis when the paramedics arrived, giving uncertainty as to his actual time of death.

But while Dr Golka confirmed that rigor mortis can take one to two hours to develop following an average person’s death, he admitted under questioning from Mr Richard Connolly, representing Berwick House, that it can develop sooner in the elderly.

Berwick House manager Natalie Steeden said that following Mr Watson’s death, several measures had been brought in there to improve monitoring of residents and reporting and recording of their condition.

After hearing all the evidence in the case, Blackpool and Fylde assistant coroner Patrick Cassidy is to give his conclusion to the inquest on Friday afternoon.