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Hunt for lost patient missed fire door clue
Inquest told of search for pensioner who fell to death
NURSES searching for a missing elderly patient failed to check a ward’s fire exit, an inquest has learned.
Although a full search of the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead was carried out after staff realised war photographer Denis Cameron had disappeared, nurses overlooked the fire door through which the patient left before falling to his death.
Mr Cameron, 77, who suffered from Parkinson’s and dementia, and was known to be disoriented, came to the hospital with a broken wrist but fell to his death after wandering off seventh-floor Hopgood ward on September 6 last year – hours before he was due to be discharged.
He was found dead more than eight hours after his disappearance, having gone to the fourth floor, climbed over railings and eventually falling into a drain on the third-floor roof.
But a St Pancras inquest on Thursday cleared the Royal Free of any responsibility, as coroner Dr Andrew Reid recorded an open verdict.
The inquest heard Mr Cameron, of Fitzjohn’s Avenue, Hampstead, was sometimes haunted by nightmares, believed to have been sparked by memories of his time covering conflicts in Cambodia, Vietnam and Iran.
His son Marc, 32, said: “He would often tell me about the nightmares and he did become agitated on several occasions. They affected his sleeping.”
Health care assistant Tessa Dailey said she saw Mr Cameron wandering around the ward on the night of his disappearance. She last saw him sitting outside the nurses’ station at about 3.15am. She went off to attend to other patients before noticing he was missing, adding: “It took about 15 minutes to realise he wasn’t in the chair or his bed.”
Junior sister Carmel Lynch rang security within minutes of realising Mr Cameron had disappeared but admitted failing to check the blue seal on the ward’s fire doors, saying: “It was dimly lit. I didn’t check it.”
A search ensued, police were called and Mr Cameron’s son was alerted, but it wasn’t until maintenance officer Richard Gray checked the fire exit the next morning that staff realised the door had been opened.
Mr Gray discovered Mr Cameron’s body on the third-floor roof.
Nursing director Geraldine Cotter admitted: “In hindsight, things should have been done. It’s very frightening for staff and they behaved in the correct way. It’s not unusual for people to try to get out and go home. Placing alarms on fire escapes will be the subject of further discussion.”
She said staff were trained to check fire exits if a patient disappeared.
Pathologist Dr Freddie Patel gave the cause of death as multiple injuries, saying Mr Cameron would probably have been alive for a few minutes after the fall but may have been knocked unconscious.
The hospital has now fitted an alarm to the ward’s fire exit and says it will act urgently to fit alarms on other doors if recommended by an internal investigation.
Speaking after the verdict, Marc Cameron, who lives in Hampstead High Street, was critical of the security measures taken since his father’s death.
He said: “I don’t understand the rationale behind putting one alarm on one door.” He would have liked the coroner to recommend that all fire doors should have alarms and that staff had a check list to follow.
A Royal Free spokesman said: “Dr Reid said there was not enough evidence to prove why Mr Cameron died and made no recommendations for policies or procedures to be modified at the Royal Free.
“A serious untoward incident panel inquiry was set up and is continuing. Any recommendations to be made by the panel, including the possible installation of fire alarms to all ward fire doors, will be acted on urgently.”
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