A woman was found to have an "excessive concentration" of drugs in her system after dying in a Merseyside care home.
Beryl Ellison was in Alexandra Care Home in Newton-le-Willows receiving end-of-life care after she suffered from pneumonia and septicemia, and had an amputation of her leg and finger due to blood clots. On June 28, 2022, at around 10am, Mrs Ellison was due her medication and when one of the care workers went to check on her she was "drowsy and sleepy" after she uncharacteristically didn't press her call button at the time of her medications.
The care assistant took her observations which were concerning and then went to find the staff nurse on shift before going to call an ambulance. Before the care assistant could call an ambulance, the staff nurse informed her Mrs Ellison had died.
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Police and Mrs Ellison's GP attended before pronouncing her dead at 1.52pm. In a prevention of future death report, which was completed on January 3, 2023, it states Mrs Ellison's son had raised concerns to the care home about medication being left in his mum's room, with her being seen hiding it under her bed covers four to six weeks before her death.
He was told staff would administer morphine and watch her take it from then on. Mrs Ellison's son, however, was concerned there had been no change in the care home practice since his earlier complaint.
The report continued: "Her family expressed concern that she had been left with syringe medication unsupervised by staff and raised concerns about this with the care home both historically and four days prior to her death."
Following a post-mortem, it was found that Mrs Ellison had an excessive concentration of medication in her system which "was likely to exceed any acquired tolerance level". During evidence heard at the inquest of Mrs Ellison, there was no reason as to why this excessive quantity of medication was found in her system which contributed to her death.
A Four Seasons spokesperson said: “The safety and well-being of our residents will always be our utmost priority. We are currently in the process of working transparently with the relevant authorities regarding the passing of Mrs Beryl Ellison.
"Our thoughts are with the family at this sad time.”
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