A NURSING home has been told ‘lessons could be learned’ following a resident’s death.

John Harding was found slumped against furniture in his bedroom on October 31 last year but a GP was not called for five days.

Staff at Lavender House Residential Care Home, in Newtown Road, Southampton, said the 83-year-old did not have any external injuries and therefore it was common practice to monitor residents but not call a doctor.

The dementia sufferer was seen by a GP on November 3, who referred him to Southampton General Hospital, where it was found he had a bleed on his brain.

Deputy manager of Lavender House, Angela Harding, no relation to Mr Harding, said a doctor was called on November 3 because Mr Harding became aggressive, difficult to manage and was in pain.

She said he had fallen at the home several times before, on one occasion losing his balance and falling into shrubs in the garden.

Mr Harding stayed in hospital until November 21, when he was deemed clinically fit to return to the home. However, staff struggled to support his care needs and he was readmitted to the acute medical unit at the hospital on November 27.

The inquest heard that from November 28 until December 17 the retired accounts supervisor was stable but confused and not always compliant with his treatment. In the days leading up to his death he deteriorated and a decision was made to keep him comfortable but not distress him with further treatment, Dr Sarah Rumbold, registrar at Southampton General Hospital said.

She said the bleed on his brain was most likely to have been caused by the fall on October 31. She advised care home manager Julie Harris that residents who have fallen should be seen by a GP whether there are external injuries or not.

Mr Harding died on Christmas Eve, of hospitalacquired pneumonia as a result of the bleed on his brain and dementia.

Senior coroner for central Hampshire Grahame Short said: “It’s very difficult, particularly with people with dementia, to know how to deal with them when they have incidents like this.”

He said the bleed on his brain was “not obvious to those caring for him” and “maybe there’s a lesson to be learned”.

He recorded a verdict of accidental death.

RNE care, which runs Lavender House, had not responded for comment at the time of going to press.