Barbara Rymell deserved dignity

There is no getting around the death of Barbara Rymell. When I read the Telegraph’s story about this 91-year-old who died while care home staff struggled to speak English to a 999 operator, it sounded too tailored to anti-immigrant prejudices. Surely this was nothing more than sensationalist reporting. Then I read the Regulation 28 report issued to the Home Office and the Department for Health and Social Care. The Coroners and Justice Act 2009 requires coroners to report any circumstances which they believe could create ‘a risk of other deaths’. The report in the Rymell case, prepared by the senior coroner for Somerset Samantha Marsh, does indeed raise concerns about the English language skills of care home staff and does so in fairly stark terms. 

On 8 August last year, Rymell was left unattended on a stair lift at Ashley House residential home in Somerset. This was despite the risk assessments saying she was too physically and cognitively incapable to use the machine on her own.