Second patient may have drunk cleaning fluid at hospital before pensioner died, inquest told

Another patient may have drunk cleaning fluid in the same hospital where a pensioner died after consuming Flash, an inquest heard.

Joan Blaber died six days after drinking the floor cleaner at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton where she was being treated last year.

The 85-year-old, of Lewes, East Sussex, had been admitted with a minor stroke on 22 August.

Her condition deteriorated after she drank the detergent on 17 September after it was left in a water jug on her bedside table.

The inquest resumed on Wednesday and Brighton and Hove Coroner’s Court heard how before Mrs Blaber’s death, staff had been told another patient had drunk toilet cleaner.

Housekeeper Daniel Gonzales was working on a nearby ward and sometimes helped with the breakfast service in Mrs Blaber’s ward.

He told the hearing: “Apparently the patient, who had dementia or something like that, took it and drank it.

“It’s just a story, I’m not sure if it was true.”

He suggested while giving evidence that the story may have been to “worry” staff into taking safety seriously.

He said codes for secure storage cupboards where chemicals were kept were sometimes written on the wall next to them, but he did not believe this was the case in Mrs Blaber’s ward.

Asked how he thought Flash was found in a patient’s water jug, he said: “It doesn’t make any sense to me and my colleagues. We have been talking about it.

“No-one would pour the product into a jug you normally use for patients.”

Mr Gonzales said there were strict rules for staff about using cleaning products, and if a mistake was made they would have “definitely” been sacked.

Senior coroner Veronica Hamilton-Deeley said this was “worrying” as it suggested it was “highly unlikely” the incident was an error.

The hospital had a system of using different types of water jugs so they could identify the needs of each patient.

The inquest had previously heard that when Mrs Blaber drank the liquid, she was given the wrong colour jug.

Relatives told the inquest that a housekeeper took away Mrs Blaber’s clear water jug in the afternoon.

It was replaced with a solid green one with the same colour lid shortly afterwards which meant no-one could see the liquid inside.

Mr Gonzales said there was a shortage of water jugs for patients.

Meanwhile, cleaners employed by the agency Green Mop claimed they received no formal training by the hospital on their shifts.

Ashley Le May, a member of a team responsible for cleaning communal areas on the day Mrs Blaber drank the liquid, said he had to carry a container of Flash through the wards to get to other parts of the building because it was too big to fit on the trolley.

He told the hearing while giving evidence: “At no point did we stop and at no point did the bottle of Flash leave its cardboard box.”

His colleague Kayleigh Regan could not attend the inquest on medical grounds but said in a statement that she was “surprised” there was “no real structure” to cleaning and claimed she received “no official training”.

Mrs Blaber could have lived a few months to a “couple of years” longer if she had not drunk the detergent, consultant pathologist and medical examiner Doctor Mark Howard estimated.

The inquest, taking place at the Jury’s Inn hotel near Brighton Station, continues on Thursday.

(c) Sky News 2018: Second patient may have drunk cleaning fluid at hospital before pensioner died, inquest told