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A 90 year old woman died after suffering a severe head injury when she fell out of bed at a nursing home in St Annes.

Anne Shirley Bromley (known as Shirley) had fallen just a few inches, onto a four-inch thick crash-mat, in the early morning of Jan 30, 2023.

Staff at The Moorings Residential Home, on North Promenade, found Shirley with skin tears to her knee, shin and elbow, and treated the wounds. But there was no sign that she may have seriously injured herself, until bruising began to show on her face later that day, at around 7pm.

An inquest at Blackpool Town Hall heard that Shirley had been taken to A&E in an ambulance, after her elbow wouldn’t stop bleeding and her eye became swollen.

Woman died after a fall at The Moorings Residential Care Home

Blackpool inquest into the death of Anne Shirley Bromley

At Blackpool Victoria Hospital, a CT head scan revealed that she had a ‘non-survivable head injury’, with bleeding in the brain.

Surgery was deemed too ‘high risk’ so the 90-year-old woman was put on end of life care and passed away on Feb 04, 2023.

Alan Wilson, Senior Coroner for Blackpool & Fylde told the court that, having read several care risk assessments, he was satisfied that the nursing home staff, who have cared for Shirley since 2019, had acted appropriately and did everything they could to prevent harm.

Her condition meant she was sometimes ‘unable to communicate her needs’. She slept in a bed that was purposely low to the ground, had a pressure sensor fitted, and her table was kept away from the bed to minimise the risk of injury. She was unable to have protective railings around the bed, as her mental state meant she was likely to climb over them.

Mr Wilson noted that taking her straight to hospital sooner would have been distressing for Mrs Bromley, who had advanced dementia, especially as it may involve a long wait.

An inquest is an inquiry into the circumstances surrounding a person’s death.

It aims to find out who the deceased was, and how, when and where they died, in order for their death to be registered.

He concluded that it was an ‘accidental death’ from cerebral hemorrhaging, which was caused by the fall.

Blackpool inquest: dementia patient died of 'non-survivable' head injury after falling out of bed at a St Annes nursing home