Damages after Wolverhampton care home failings over woman, 94

A family has won "substantial damages" against a care home after a 94-year-old great-grandmother died, solicitors say.

Bentley Court Care Home, Wolverhampton, allowed Irene Garbett to develop pressure sores to the extent one became septic and untreatable, relatives said.

Law firm FBC Manby Bowdler said the home admitted a number of failings in relation to her treatment in the months leading up to her death in 2019.

Priory Group, which ran it at the time, offered its "deepest condolences".

It has since been taken over by a new operator.

An inquest listed the mother-of-two's primary cause of death as septicaemia caused by an infected pressure sore, solicitors said.

Mrs Garbett, who died on 1 March 2019, also had four grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

Granddaughter Helen, a coronary care nurse, said she herself was "passionate about end-of-life care, but it was almost non-existent for Nan".

"It was just awful and she should never have had to go through it.

"The last days of somebody's life should be full of dignity, love and comfort. It was anything but that for my nan who suffered excruciating pain."

The granddaughter said pressure sores "were allowed to develop to the stage that they were untreatable and it was the family who recognised that Nan was septic".

She added: "We even had to drive to a pharmacy at one stage to get water for her intravenous line."

FBC Manby Bowdler said the home on Nordley Road had made "a substantial out-of-court settlement" to the family.

Michael Portman-Hann, from the law firm's clinical negligence team, said: "Had appropriate care been provided, Mrs Garbett would not have sustained these sores and would have avoided the pain and suffering she endured as a result.

"She would also have avoided the septicaemia which proved fatal."

A spokesperson for Priory Group said it would not comment on people's individual care, but described it as "an exceptionally sad case" and offered its "deepest condolences to Mrs Garbett's family".

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