News

Emily Formby Represents Family Of Anthony Dawson At Inquest

Emily Formby has represented the family of Anthony Dawson at the inquest into his death.

Anthony, who had learning disabilities and was severely autistic, died at Ashmount Care Home in Surrey from a gastric haemorrhage caused by an undetected bleeding gastric ulcer on 16  May 2015.  The Care Home was run by the Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Trust.

The Jury  concluded that neglect by the care home had contributed to his death. The jury at Woking Coroner's Court said the fact that a GP was not called when Anthony appeared ill on the morning of Saturday 16 May was a "gross failure". There was a further  gross failure to pass information between the care home and a doctor when help was sought later that day.

In a lengthy narrative conclusions, the Jury pointed to a number of instances of inadequate care which contributed to Anthony's death including a failure to provide him with 1:1 care despite funding being in place.  Care plans and risk assessments were not adhered to and staffing numbers were insufficient with some inexperienced staff having little or no clear direction in how to deal with an emergency.  Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Trust said it accepted there were areas where its care was not up to standard.

In a statement, the Trust's Chief Medical Officer, Dr Justin Wilson, said: "We fully accept there are areas where our care for Anthony fell short of the standards we expect within our residential services and are truly sorry for this.

"We will now carefully consider the findings from the jury and coroner today to see what actions we need to put in place in the coming weeks to improve the quality of the care we provide, in addition to the quality improvements we have already made since Anthony's death."

Mr Dawson's sister, Julia, had raised concerns on a number of occasions prior to Anthony's death and had been trying to move him to a more suitable unit.

Emily Formby was instructed by Hodge Jones & Allen.

For full press information, please see:

BBC News

Carehome.co.uk