Relatives of a great grandmother who tragically died two months after being attacked by a fellow care home resident have vowed to battle on and state that they believe she was killed.
Jessie McKinlay, aged 91, tragically passed away from significant injuries on April 21, 2019, after an attack that happened on Valentine's Day 2019 at the Old Vicarage Care Home in Naze Lane, Preston.
Blackpool Coroner's Court heard on December 14 how another resident at the home, Alan Whiteside, brutally attacked Mrs McKinlay, throwing her out in to the corridor and trying to kick and hit her before being restrained from staff, reports Lancs Live.
The inquest heard how Mr Whiteside, aged 75 and who had previously been diagnosed with mixed dementia, was known to have been verbally and physically abusive towards staff and in some instances to other residents in recent months.
The court also heard how that despite previous attempts by the care home to reduce his anger by changing his medication in October 2018, his agitation became more regular.
Mr Whiteside was also known to wander into other residents' rooms, the court heard.
Coroner Alan Wilson said in a statement: "The extent of the risk he posed to other residents was not fully appreciated, in part because social workers and mental health professionals were not aware of the extent of his aggressive behaviour."
Mr Whiteside was reported to be apologetic when police came, and remorseful.
Mrs McKinlay was then taken to Royal Preston Hospital, where investigations revealed injuries including a fractured right shoulder and a fractured right neck of femur. She underwent surgery but did not have a CT scan, and was discharged from hospital to a nursing home on March 11, being taken to Blackpool Victoria Hospital on March 21. She returned to the nursing home on April 2 for end of life care. She died on April 21, surrounded by family.
She left behind seven children, 16 grandchildren and four great grandchildren.
Daughter Mary Eaves said: "She was beautiful, vibrant, kind and generous person. She was very, very popular and very glamorous. She had a wonderful personality - everybody gravitated towards her - she was such good fun. She was such a good mum and she was brilliant. She was loved by all her grandchildren, children and great grand children.
"This has been so stressful for us."
Speaking after the inquest, as she fought back tears, she added: "She was killed. She was assaulted. There are failures. I have waited for this for three years. It's not finished - we are going to chase everybody that failed her. We are just so disappointed."
In a statement, afterwards, her family said: "The Old Vicarage Care Home failed to safeguard our mum, and other vulnerable residents who were under their care. From July 2018 to February 2019, many red flags were raised exposing the extreme altercations that were happening in the care home. All were recorded during those months.
"The whistleblower's statement in January 2019 which highlighted many failures in the care home, was not properly investigated. So many opportunities were missed due to the poor communication between the care home managers, the providers and the agencies involved. We sat by our mum for nine weeks before she passed away. It was heart breaking. Her death was avoidable."
A postmortem revealed that Mrs McKinlay's condition had been complicated by significant bronchopneumonia in her lungs, which had developed at a time when she was susceptible to respiratory infection due to the combined effects of her frailty, increased immobility and a subdural haematoma that she suffered during the incident.
Recording a narrative conclusion, Blackpool coroner Alan Wilson said Mrs McKinlay died from the effects of the significant injuries she received when she was physically attacked at the care home where she resided by another resident who had been diagnosed with significant dementia.
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