Change is pledged after patient death.

A HOSPITAL has changed its procedures to help patients more quickly after pressure sores caused the death of an elderly woman.

Margaret Scott, 78, who suffered from Alzheimer's, died at South Tyneside District Hospital in 2007.

She was living at a nursing home in South Shields and had become immobile after suffering a fracture in a fall. She was referred to hospital after she stopped eating and drinking, and was taken to the A&E for assessment.

But it was several hours before she was assessed and in the mean time, she sat waiting in a chair with family members at her side.

It was later revealed she had severe pressure sores on her hip, ankles and right heel. Mrs Scott's daughter, Lyndsay, had checked her mother before she was taken to hospital and did not see any signs of lesions. But doctors say the sores would have been developing for days.

Mrs Scott was treated at the hospital and her condition appeared to be improving. She was later discharged and sent back to her nursing home.

But she deteriorated and ultimately developed an infection. The cause of death was sepsis due to pressure sores which developed because of her immobility. At an inquest, coroner Terence Carney recorded a verdict that she died of natural causes.

South Tyneside NHS Foundation Trust apologised because of her wait in A&E and the delay in her assessment.