Wrong dinner ‘didn’t raise any alarm bells’
A GREENOCK care home resident ‘grabbed’ a piece of food with his hand and placed it in his mouth before he began choking to death, a fatal accident inquiry has been told.
A staff member had gone to assist 70-year-old Robert McPaul – who had been served a meal unsuitable for his dietry requirements – after noticing that his hand was trembling as he fed himself, Greenock Sheriff Court heard.
Giving evidence to the inquiry, the woman – who began working at Sir Gabriel Wood’s Mariners’ Home two months before the tragedy – said: “I got a chair and sat down next to him.
“Bert grabbed a piece of food with his hand and started choking.
“I don’t know if it was potato or steak or pastry.”
The court earlier heard evidence that Mr McPaul – who passed away on March 30 of 2018 – had been mistakenly given a steak pie dinner which was unsuitable for the textured diet he had been put on following previous choking incidents.
He should have been served a chicken paella dish, which would have been suitable for the soft diet he was on, the inquiry was told.
Mr McPaul’s meals were to be mashed with the back of a fork before being served.
The witness told the inquiry that the steak pie dish had been mashed, and that extra gravy had been added to moisten the food.
She said the dish did not raise any alarm bells as it looked ‘very soft’ and like it would ‘melt in your mouth’.
The inquiry heard that Mr McPaul started coughing and turned a ‘funny colour’ after he placed the handful of food in his mouth.
The witness and her colleague then attempted to clear his airway.
She said: “We took him out to the corridor as we didn’t want to upset the other residents.
“We were trying to clear his chest, patting him on the back.
“I was asked to try the Heimlich, but he was too big and he was in a wheelchair.
“We couldn’t have lifted him.” The inquiry heard that changes were made to meal time procedures following Mr McPaul’s death.
Plates containing meals for residents on certain diets were colour coordinated, which the witness said made it easier to distinguish between different types of meals.
She noted that diet and nutrition training, which she completed around two months after Mr McPaul’s death, should have been given earlier.
The witness also expressed that further training in supervising residents on special diets would have been helpful.
The inquiry before Sheriff Sheena Fraser is due to continue later this year, with an exact date yet to be set.