An inquest is to be held into six deaths at the home
An inquest is to be held into six deaths at the home
A daughter who fought tooth and nail to find out more about what happened to her mum at her care home before she died has said she put her grief on hold to ‘fight for the truth’. Winifred Tubb, 78, from West Derby, allegedly suffered 32 falls at St Luke’s Care Home, in Runcorn, sustaining a broken hip and broken pubic bone before her death.
Winifred’s death is to be examined along with five other residents at the home at an inquest at Warrington Coroner’s Court later this year. Daughter Kylie Gobin, 56, from Runcorn, says she was only told about 12 falls her mother had suffered at the home, but believes it was closer to 30.
Winifred was born in West Derby. She also lived in Aigburth before she and her young family moved to Runcorn in 1972.
Kylie said: “She started as a home help when we were little and then she decided when we were older that she wanted to move down south with my dad and she ran two sheltered houses in Southampton.
“She retired and her and my dad moved to Leamington. My dad passed away in 2010 and she had a stroke shortly after and then developed dementia.”
Winifred was diagnosed with dementia in 2011 but did not tell her family. Symptoms became more apparent and she moved back to Runcorn in 2017 to be close to her family. She was moved to St Luke’s Care Home, run by Halton Borough Council, in June 2021.
In October of that year, Winifred was hospitalised with a broken hip and pubic bone after a fall, one of 32 which Kylie says she sustained while living at the home. Winifred died on December 28, 2022.
Kylie said: “She was lovely, but she was strong willed. She was my mum. We looked after her when she needed us. She had a caring nature.
“She didn’t have any functional language at the end. What hurt me most is that she had no voice and couldn’t tell me what was going on. Everyone on her ward had dementia.”
Kylie has spent years fighting for a public inquiry regarding deaths at St Luke’s Care Home. It was announced in December that an inquest would be held later this year on six deaths at the home.
She said: “It’s given me a focus, but I wish I hadn’t have had to do it. I haven’t had time to grieve because I just want to know the truth.”
A month before her mother’s death, Kylie said she attended the home. Kylie said that, when she entered the room, her mother was lying on the floor. Kylie said: “I was sobbing and I asked them to get my mum up.
“She said to me ‘I’m in pain and I’m sore’. My mum hadn’t had functional language for months, and that was playing on my mind. She must have been in agony.”
A spokesperson for the Care Quality Commission (CQC) said: “During 2023 CQC investigated three falls incidents at St Luke’s to determine whether they were as a result of provider level failures, breaching their legal obligations under the Health and Social Care Act 2008. Following investigation, CQC determined the evidence didn’t show a provider level failure, so no further action was taken.“
The deaths of five other residents: Leonard Allen; Victor Collinson; Patricia Clee; Raymond Thomas and Barbara Jeffers are also to be examined at the inquest. The Liverpool ECHO approached Halton Borough Council for comment but received no response. A spokesman previously told the BBC they would ‘co-operate fully and assist the coroner with their inquiries’.
