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An inquest has been held after a 91-year-old man died following a fall at Medway Hospital.
Former shipwright Roy Willing of Plantation Road, Gillingham, was admitted to hospital on March 14 this year with a suspected chest infection, having a had a history of heart and respiratory problems.
The inquest at Archbishop's Palace in Maidstone today heard how he had subsequently developed delirium, and then suffered a fall at his bedside causing a brain hemorrhage.
Prior to the incident a nurse had requested a "fall sensor pad" which had not been available on the ward, but she had been unable to go to another ward due to short staffing levels and procedures in place to restrict movement between wards due to coronavirus.
However Sonia Hayes, assistant coroner for Mid Kent and Medway, noted it was unlikely that a fall sensor would have prevented the fall, while one-to-one nursing was also deemed unrealistic due to staffing levels.
She said she was was satisfied doctors had done what they could to treat Mr Willing, adding: "His GP had referred him to the appropriate place to hospital and it's likely that if he hadn't been referred to hospital he would have died earlier."
The court heard measures had been put in place to improve staffing levels by improving coronavirus testing, while nurses took part in regular meetings to discuss each case on the ward.
Ms Hayes said she did not deem it necessary to make a serious incident report and was satisfied improvements had been made.
The cause of death was given as 1a) chest sepsis, 1b) aspirational pneumonia and intraparenchymal hemorrhage, and 2) myocardial infarction and heart failure.
The coroner's verdict was that Mr Willing died as the result of an accident.
