Charlotte LillywhiteLocal Democracy Reporting Service
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The men waited for hours in corridors at St Georges’ Hospital and relied on care by their families before being left unsupervised overnight
Two men died a day apart after suffering head injuries in separate unwitnessed falls at an overstretched south London hospital.
David Ward, 76, died at St George’s Hospital in Tooting on 10 February 2024, while Dr Debapriya Ghosh, 83, died the following day.
Fiona Wilcox, Senior Coroner for Inner West London, has written to the health secretary, saying the cases highlighted “impossible situations where demand clearly exceeds available resource”.
A spokesperson for St George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has offered their condolences to the families, adding that “immediate changes” were made following their deaths.
‘Exceptionally busy’
Inquests on 2 December last year found found Ward died as a result of an accident contributed to by neglect, while Ghosh died from an accidental fall contributed to by a failure to provide appropriate nursing supervision.
Ward was taken to St George’s with frailty, confusion and likely infection on 7 February 2024. He was not risk assessed by nurses and received no significant nursing care after his daughter left in the early hours of 8 February.
He was later found kneeling by his bedside, having suffered a head injury, and died on 10 February.
The inquest found he should have received enhanced care due to his risk, which would have prevented the fall and his death.
Ghosh was admitted to St George’s on 9 February 2024, suffering with delirium, an infection and heart issues. He was cared for in the corridor for several hours before being transferred to a bed in the early evening, as A&E was so busy.
Ghosh was not risk assessed by nurses until almost midnight. Staff sought medical advice after he became more delirious in the early hours of 10 February, but his nursing risk was not reassessed.
He injured his head after an unwitnessed fall at around 08:30 GMT and died the next day.
The inquest found he should have been escalated to one-to-one care and his death would have been avoided if he had been appropriately supervised by nurses.
Charlotte Lillywhite/LDRS
The hospital said “immediate changes” were made following the deaths
According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), the report said both men were “left to wait for very many hours being cared for by their families, rather than supported by nurses and treated in proper bed spaces.
“When their families left during the night, they both fell as they were unsupervised, sustaining injuries that led to their deaths.”
The coroner said that while St George’s had made changes to better manage demand since the men’s deaths, the inquests heard that many shifts in A&E were still “exceptionally busy”.
Wilcox said the situation was causing distress to the staff “attempting to manage impossible situations,” which could push them to leave the job.
She said the government should look into the issue as risk remained despite measures put in place by hospitals like St George’s to manage demand.
A St George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust spokesperson said: “We offer our deepest sympathies to the family and friends of Dr Ghosh and Mr Ward.
“These falls were fully investigated and immediate changes were made, including increasing staffing levels, ensuring thorough falls assessments on patients, and carrying out regular quality and safety rounds.
“To care for frail patients, we have also expanded our Same Day Emergency Care unit and introduced a new departure lounge to free-up beds for people who need overnight admission.”
The Department of Health and Social Care has been contacted for comment.