WINCHESTER’S Royal Hampshire County Hospital has changed several aspects of its inpatient care after an Owslebury pensioner died of a head injury.

All those prescribed the drug Furosemide, which causes blood pressure to dip, are now categorised as being at a high-risk of falling.

And any patient who incurs a head injury is immediately given a CT scan of their brain.

Tuesday’s inquest heard how Heather Glasspool died on January 27 this year, a month after she fell over while an inpatient on Clarke Ward.

A post mortem examination concluded that the 71-year-old had sustained a large, fatal bleed on her brain when she hit her head.

The pathologist also found that she had suffered from heart disease and contracted pneumonia shortly before her death.

Staff Nurse Lucy Coleman told the inquest how Mrs Glasspool had collapsed onto the linoleum floor and lost consciousness after walking to the nurses’ station to return a pen on the afternoon of December 22.

“I went to put my pen back in my pocket and then heard her hit the floor,” she said.

“She was on her back when I came round from the nurses’ station.

“I think she was unconscious for about ten seconds.”

Staff Nurse Coleman said that, as a result of the incident, Mrs Glasspool, of Beech Grove, Owslebury, was immediately re-categorised as being at a high-risk of falling.

However a CT scan, which showed she had suffered a major brain bleed, did not take place until the next day, 18 hours after the accident.

Mrs Glasspool was eventually taken to Southampton’s neuro-surgical unit to have the injury drained, but she later died.

A statement by Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust Divisional Medical Director of Medical Services Dr Carl Brookes, which was read to the inquest, said that the care at Winchester and Basingstoke hospitals had been “redefined” as a result of the case.

“In future a CT scan will be done immediately,” he added.

Other changes include the reclassification of anyone on Furosemide as being at high-risk of falling, and regularly taking the blood pressure of patients both lying down and standing up.

Recording a narrative verdict, senior central Hampshire coroner Grahame Short said that hospital falls were inevitable given that so many patients are elderly.

But he added: “It’s right to say that her increased risk of collapse or falls wasn’t fully appreciated at the time.”

A statement from Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust issued after the inquest said: “We would like to express our sincere condolences to Mrs Glasspool’s family and friends.

“We have learned from this incident and have implemented changes as a result.”