Glan Clwyd Hospital patient, 92, died after choking on sprout

A widower died after choking on a Brussel sprout while being fed by a healthcare assistant, an inquest heard.

Staff at Glan Clwyd Hospital, Denbighshire had tried to save James Dingsdale, but he died just before Christmas, last year.

Mr Dingsdale, from Penrhyn Bay, Conwy, had been admitted to the hospital on 12 December after a fall at his home.

Coroner John Gittins recorded an accidental death caused by hypoxia and a cardiac arrest while he was choking.

In a statement read out during the hearing at Denbighshire County Council in Ruthin, Mr Dingsdale's daughter Karen Evans said her father's friend had said he was having problems swallowing food around the time he was hospitalised.

She said: "The hospital phoned me after the choking incident and we met staff treating him. They said they'd managed to dislodge the food but dad had suffered a heart attack."

In another statement, ward sister Larissa Evans said Mr Dingsdale had had a swallow assessment and deemed able to eat a normal diet.

But "I told staff to stop feeding him if his condition changed," her statement said.

"A healthcare support worker said she was stopping feeding him as he was 'chesty' but I observed he was choking," it continued..

"He looked as if he was trying to bring something up. She did the correct thing in stopping feeding him and bringing it to my attention.

"I asked him to sit forward and gave him three hard slaps to his back but didn't dislodge anything. I called for additional suction tubing.

"Mr Dingsdale was in 'peri arrest' and I placed an oxygen therapy mask on his face before starting cardiac compressions."

His heart was successfully restarted after the food was removed with a laryngoscopy, but he later died, the hearing was told.

But a hospital investigation found Mr Dingsdale had received appropriate care and assessment.

The suction tubing had been removed from his bedside after earlier deep cleaning and not replaced, though that was not said to be detrimental to his care.

Mr Gittings said: "Originally the absence of the suction tube appeared to be a factor but I'm satisfied that was not significant, given that it would have been in the ward on the cardiac arrest trolley.

"Also an assessment of his ability to swallow had been carried out by an experienced member of staff."