Terminally ill Oswestry pensioner died after hitting head in hospital fall
A pensioner who had just been told she was terminally ill died after falling and hitting her head in hospital.
Pauline Wilkins, from Clarkes Lane in St Martins, Oswestry, fell at Wrexham Maelor Hospital, an inquest in Ruthin heard. The fall came days after her diagnosis.
Arrangements were being made for the 80-year-old to be moved to Chirk Hospital, possibly for end-of-life care.
But on March 7 last year, she rang her alarm bell for assistance to go to the toilet.
Staff nurse Amy Malone told the inquest that as she went to switch off the alarm she saw Mrs Wilkins fall backwards and hit her head on the floor.
Her condition deteriorated over the next few days and on March 10 she was transferred to Nightingale House Hospice, where she died the following day.
Her granddaughter Tamara Noden-Poli said she initially took her to hospital because she was increasingly confused and had a pain in the neck. It came as a huge shock to learn that she had cancer.
She said the family were not told until after her death that she'd had an earlier fall soon after arriving in hospital.
“I would have asked them to make sure that it didn’t happen again,” she said.
Senior ward sister Elizabeth Hughes said that Mrs Wilkins was able to walk with a Zimmer frame prior to the second fall, and knew what plans were being made for her palliative care.
“She was very strong-willed and wanted to hold on to her independence,” she said.
The cause of her death was given as brain contusion, with the cancer a contributory factor, and John Gittins, senior coroner for North Wales East and Central, recorded a conclusion of accidental death.
