Left to die: Catalogue of failures over Telford pensioner tragedy

Eric Wright, a retired mechanic who lived at Milwood, Trench Lock, died at Princess Royal Hospital from bronchopneumonia on December 28 last year.

An inquest at Telford Register Office in Wellington heard that his neighbour had discovered him “looking like he had passed away” four days earlier.

Shropshire Coroner John Ellery heard that on December 4 a call from an anonymous neighbour to Telford & Wrekin Council’s social services raised serious concerns over Mr Wright, but because of a series of errors no social worker managed to see him.

Mr Ellery recorded a conclusion of death by natural causes and said he could not speculate on whether if Mr Wright had seen a social worker his death could have been prevented.

The council says it has reviewed procedures "with a view to learning in order to avoid similar issues arising in the future".

Mr Ellery said he was satisfied that the council review had identified issues and had ensured there could be no repeat of Mr Wright’s case.

The inquest heard a neighbour of the pensioner had called the council on December 4 to highlight his condition.

The neighbour told the call handler that Mr Wright was in a “dire situation”.

Disorientated

The notes of the call also state that Mr Wright appeared disorientated and had been waking up at 2.30pm and going to Lidl several times a day but purchased nothing.

The call handleradmitted to the inquest that he had made errors searching for Mr Wright’s record on their system and could not find his file.

As a result he was not able to enter the details, and was also unaware of Mr Wright’s previous contact with the service as a result.

Mr Ellery concluded that the call handler then failed to pass on the severity of the details when he asked a duty social worker to look at the case.

The inquest also heard of further errors, including where a letter was sent to Mr Wright in early January or late February 2017, asking if he needed support.

Mr Wright did not reply but the letter was never followed up.

It also emerged that three social workers failed to respond to an email requesting a referral for Mr Wright to the council’s early support team on September 7.

Recording his conclusion Mr Ellery said: “I am satisfied the necessary action has been taken.”

Speaking after the inquest, council spokesman Kris Kowalik said: “As with any incident of this nature we would analyse our practices with a view to learning.”