'Right from the start we knew she hadn't been looked after'

NORTHUMBERLAND woman died in a care home in heartbreaking circumstances when she was given food that staff should have known she could not swallow.

- SAM VOLPE

Retired Blyth shopkeeper Joan Whitworth, 88, died in 2023 at the Oaks Care Home in the town.

After an inquest into her death though, Northumberland’s senior coroner Andrew Hetherington has demanded both the home and the Northumbria Healthcare NHS Trust's speech and language therapy team make improvements. After two years of fighting, Joan’s family told The Journal this was vindication.

Joan was a much-loved grandmother who had been the manager at the town’s Robson's shoe shop before moving to work for the water board. She had lived with daughter Gillian and family before moving to a care home as her dementia progressed. She died on March 3, 2023.

Following an inquest held last month, the coroner produced a formal “prevention of future deaths” report, which both the care home and NHS trust must respond to within 56 days. The coroner, who had concluded that Joan had died “in a care home as a result of choking”, can do this in cases where he believes he has not been assured that the circumstances around someone's death would not be possible in future.

And in his written report, the coroner highlights how action must be taken to prevent failings in her care from being repeated. He said: “On March 3, 2023, within a ground-floor dining room of Oaks Care Home, Blyth, her meal was prepared in a way that did not comply with her diet plan. She began to experience symptoms of choking as a result of massive aspiration, of which she was at risk of.”

During the inquest, the coroner added, he heard evidence as to how a care assistant had then needed to seek help and another member of staff needed to arrive before “back slaps” and “abdominal thrusts” could be attempted.