INADEQUATE hospital care of an elderly woman has seen her devastated family reach an out-of-court settlement.

Former nurse Audrey Rea, 76, of Cleator Moor, died at the West Cumberland Hospital on Boxing Day 2012, her 53rd wedding anniversary.

Her family witnessed her screaming in pain and poor management of her severe illnesses which saw her fall into a near coma.

Now they have settled out of court with the North Cumbria University Hospitals Trust after it admitted there had been “deficiencies in her care’’.

Mrs Rea, who worked at West Cumberland Hospital and was a district nurse, had survived a triple heart bypass and tongue cancer before being admitted with a stroke to the hospital in September 2012.

However, her daughter, Anne Gardner, said the family had continually “battled’’ with the WCH staff over concerns about the care of her mother, who also suffered from severe diabetes and coeliac disease.

Incidents included:

n “Poorly-controlled pain’’ which resulted in Mrs Rea screaming in agony, witnessed by her family at visiting times.

n Continuing use of a statin, which caused her to have painful side effects, despite the family and Mrs Rea’s requests to halt its use.

n Discharged from hospital to Whitehaven’s Harbour View Care Home when Mrs Rea’s condition was not stable. Anne said the hospital didn’t inform the family of this move. Before being transported to the care home, Mrs Rea was “nearly in a coma’’ due to her diabetes being uncontrolled.

n Being fed Weetabix five days before she died, despite suffering from severe coeliac disease (wheat and gluten allergy).

Anne said her mother also lost over 22lbs in weight during an eight-week stay at the hospital as well as contracting Norovirus when transferred to another ward, and two weeks before she died had contracted a urinary infection.

Anne said: “No-one listened to us about my mum at the hospital. There was a real lack of communication, they never kept us informed. We constantly battled with them to try and provide good care for her.

“It was horrific listening to her screaming in pain and when I found her nearly in a coma.

“Our biggest regrets are that mum died on her own, and she didn’t witness the birth of her great-granddaughter who was born 21 days after her death,’’ Anne said. “We believed both of these could have been avoided with proper communication. My mum lived for her family and helping people. She was always there for us.’’

She added: “I would like to say mum’s initial care by the ambulance service and the West Cumberland Hospital’s A&E was brilliant. They probably saved her life. Claire Lowrey, who is a stroke support worker, was also fantastic.

“The problem was that on later wards there was a lack of staff nurses, and we struggled, at times, to find qualified staff to talk about mum’s condition.’’

The family’s solicitor, David Dawson, of Price Slater Gawne, said: “Despite the findings of the complaint, the claim was resisted by the Trust.

“Even though the complaint investigation recognised some (but not all) of the problems with her care, it was not until after court proceedings had been started that a settlement was finally negotiated.”

He added: “An independent expert, Dr David Smithard, who is a consultant physician at the Princess Royal University Hospital, part of the King’s College NHS Trust, confirmed in his reports that the negligent treatment materially contributed to Mrs Rea’s death.’’

Dr Derek Thomson, medical director for North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “We would like to extend our sincere condolences to Mrs Rea’s family for their sad loss in 2012.

“We have worked very hard over recent years to make sure we deliver high quality, safe and compassionate care and apologise that for Mrs Rea, and her family, we fell below these high standards at such an important time.

“We would like to reassure Mrs Rea’s family and the public that we have learned from this case and made sure that improvements have been made.”