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Pensioner who died after fall at Birmingham's Queen Elizabeth Hospital 'was not properly supervised'

A pensioner who died after suffering a fall at a Midland hospital was not adequately supervised due to a shortage of staff, an inquest heard.

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Herbert Millar, who lived in West Bromwich for nearly 50 years, fell and subsequently died at Birmingham's Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

An inquest into his death heard on the day the 80-year-old fell an extra nurse had been requested to constantly monitor the grandfather-of-31, who was intermittently suffering bouts of confusion.

But Alison Doyle, who carried out an assessment of Mr Millar's fall, told the inquest no staff were available for the shift. External agencies were contacted but were unable to provide cover.

Mr Millar, died at the hospital on January 6, the day after his fall.

Taken Christmas Day last year

Assistant Coroner Emma Brown recorded a narrative conclusion in which she said the fall was 'contributed to' by the failure to provide adequate supervision.

Mr Millar had come to England from Jamaica in the 1950s and lived in Beeches Road, West Bromwich until 2000 when he moved to Handsworth, Birmingham.

The inquest at Birmingham Coroner's Court heard Mr Millar, who spent 30 years working at Hale and Hale foundry in Tipton, had a history of peripheral arterial disease which caused his legs to swell.

He was first admitted to Sandwell General Hospital before being transferred to Queen Elizabeth Hospital on Christmas Eve. While there he had procedures to both legs under local anaesthetic, after which he made good progress, the inquest heard.

But several members of staff told the inquest he was at times confused and would attempt to leave his bed unassisted.

On the dayof his fall, in the absence of a dedicated nurse, health care assistant Alex Birchley was monitoring Mr Millar along with seven other patients across multiple bays.

Mr Birchley told the inquest a relative of another patient had asked if he could fetch a bag from the property store. He said he checked Mr Millar was in his bed and went to get the bag, in which time Mr Millar fell.

He added he had not been away from the bay for more than a minute and a half.

Mr Millar's passport photo

The inquest was told Mr Millar suffered a large subdural hematoma in the fall which put pressure on his brain and led to his death.

Assistant Coroner Brown concluded: "If Alex Birchley or another health care assistant was present so to tell Mr Millar not to try and leave his bed he would not have attempted to do so.

"Mr Millar was not provided the one-to-one care he needed. On that evening he was left alone and during that time he suffered a fall which resulted in head injuries and his death. My formal conclusion is that the death was a result of a fall, contributed to by the failure to provide adequate supervision."

Carlton Murdock, deputy head of nursing at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, said steps had been taken following Mr Millar's death including authorising individual wards to 'over-recruit' health care assistants.

Mr Millar's daughter, Sharon Millar, said: "I absolutely agree with the conclusion reached by the coroner.

"Since his death we had been told one thing and then another and when we saw the witness statements we knew things weren't quite right. The fall could and should have been prevented."

A spokesperson for University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust said afterwards: "The Trust extends its sympathy to the family of Mr Miller.

"The circumstances of his death have been the subject of an internal investigation and as a result our policies and procedures in relation to falls risks and observations standards have been reiterated to all staff."

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