Questions raised over woman who died moments after being discharged from Telford hospital
A coroner has questioned why an elderly woman who suffered a cardiac arrest as she was being discharged from hospital was taken to a ward rather than A&E.
Mr John Ellery has asked for more information on the circumstances surrounding the death of eighty-one year old Eileen Barbara Davies.
Mrs Davies suffered a cardiac arrest as she was getting into the ambulance to take her home from the Princess Royal Hospital in Telford.
Mrs Davies was then taken back to the ward from which she had been discharged - a journey of between seven and 10 minutes - rather than the hospital's A&E department, which was three minutes away, Mr John Ellery was told.
Mrs Davies's family, who attended her inquest at the Civic Centre in Wellington wanted to know if her life could have been saved had she been taken to A&E.
Mr Ellery adjourned the inquest until next month, saying he needed further information on the "mechanics" of the Princess Royal Hospital.
The inquest was told that Mrs Davies, from Wellington, was in hospital after fracturing and dislocating her right shoulder.
She was assessed on January 29 and told she was able to return to her home in Lowe Court, High Street, that day.
But as she was getting into an ambulance to take her home she went into cardiac arrest, the inquest was told.
Mrs Davies was then taken back to the ward she had left rather than the A&E department, which was much nearer.
Stuart Lillevitz, who was a nurse on the ward at the time, told the inquest how Mrs Davies seemed well on the day she was discharged.
"Everything was done to help Mrs Davies when she returned to ward 10 after going into cardiac arrest," he said.
"If she was taken to A&E it would have taken her about three minutes to make it to the department; however I would say it takes about 10 minutes to get back to ward 10.
"This does depend on which lift is working as there are three lifts that take you to that ward."
Mr Ellery, adjourned the inquest until next month, saying he needed further information on the matter.
He said: "So far we have established that Mrs Davies died after dislocating and fracturing her right shoulder, and we know she died at the Princess Royal Hospital on January 29.
"I will adjourn this hearing so I can go away and look at the mechanics at the hospital to understand how Mrs Davies went from the back of the ambulance to ward 10."
No conclusion on Mrs Davies's death has been made.
