Hospital admits pensioner who died after fall at home should not have been discharged
A hospital has admitted failings after a pensioner who should not have been discharged died from a brain haemorrhage.
Peter Anthony Lake, aged 76, had a fall at home after being sent home by Royal Shrewsbury Hospital following a blood transfusion. The retired company director from Llanidloes, Powys, who also had prostate cancer and had been feeling unwell after the transfusion, was taken back to the hospital but died on April 25 this year.
Mr Lake's inquest at Shirehall was told that Shrewsbury and Telford Hospitals Trust (SaTH) accepted he should not have been sent home, and that he should have had a CT scan early he was brought back to the hospital following his fall, rather than several hours later. However, documentary evidence given by a neurological surgeon from Royal Stoke University Hospital stated that he did not believe and earlier CT scan would have saved Mr Lake.
Family members in attendance questioned the surgeon's verdict. Mr Lake's son, also called Peter, said he was "extremely angry", and could not understand how the surgeon could come to that conclusion without seeing his father.
John Ellery, senior coroner for Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin, adjourned the inquest until September 20. He said he would write to the family in the next week to establish areas of concern. A date will be identified on the 20th when witnesses can attend.
