Nurse was shopping on internet as pensioner lay on floor

An 86 year old nursing home resident lay for hours on the floor after falling from his bed – while the only nurse on duty was shopping on the internet.

An inquest into the death of Peter O’Connor was told that the internet history from the computer in the nurses’ station at the Central Park Nursing Home in Clonberne showed visits to online shopping sites over a period of seven hours on the night of his fall.

And in acknowledging that protocols had not been followed, Megan Maguire, the nursing home’s assistant manager, said that only nurses had access to this computer.  The nurse on duty that night was Carmel Arakelian, who no longer works at the home.

Mr O’Connor, originally from Monairmore, Kilkerrin, died last December – and his brother, Fr Christy O’Connor told his inquest that he would have been found by neighbours and seen by a doctor quicker if he was still living at home.

“The last thing on my mind is to apportion any blame, but things have to be said,” he told the inquiry.

The inquest heard there no checks on Mr O’Connor between midnight and 4am when Mr O’Connor was found on the floor of his bedroom. He was helped back to bed and Westdoc was contacted.

Ms Arakelian said that the female doctor on duty decided not to visit and, when told about the marks on his body from the fall, she said the doctor replied: “Elderly people mark and bruise easily.”

The following morning, Peter O’Connor was taken to UHG, but was pronounced dead a short time later.

Since this incident, Ms Maguire said that among the changes have been random checks of CCTV footage from cameras the corridors to ensure that these checks are carried out every one to two hours, as was the protocol at the time of Mr O’Connor’s fall.

See full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune.