Nursing overhaul follows deaths at Brighton hospital

Edward Warneford and Brian Waller both died on the Bailey ward

Nursing care at a Brighton hospital is being completely overhauled following the deaths of two men on the same ward.

The Brighton and Hove coroner said a catalogue of failings led to the deaths of Brian Waller and Edward Warneford at the Royal Sussex County Hospital.

Mr Waller, 72, died after falling out of bed in April 2009. A month later Mr Warneford, 66, choked on dentures staff did not notice he was wearing.

The hospital trust said major changes in nursing care were taking place.

It said it was restructuring its system so there were more senior nurses on the wards and more regular staff meetings.

'Positive benefits'

Chief Nurse Sherree Fagge told BBC South East she wanted her legacy to be that the hospital was known for its quality of nursing care.

She added: "They [younger nurses] will be seeing how I interact with patients, interact with relatives, interact with other staff - and indeed the matrons - and emulate that behaviour.

"We are teaching them as we go round. We are learning and picking up various issues that we would look to move forward on.

"We've only being doing this two or three weeks now but already I can start to see improvements and the positive benefits that this will bring."

Mr Warneford died on the Bailey Ward and it subsequently emerged that the care plan which had put in place had not been followed properly and nurses did not know he wore lower dentures.

Six weeks earlier, Mr Waller died six days after he suffered severe injuries in a fall from his hospital bed.

Mr Waller, who was being treated for heart problems, had been made to wear a wrist band with "risk of falls" written on it but it was later discovered one of the guard rails on his bed had been left down.

Coroner Veronica Hamilton-Deeley strongly criticised the Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust and at the inquests on the two men said changes needed to be made.

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