A DEMENTIA patient who fatally injured a fellow care resident had been deemed too dangerous to go back to a home six months earlier, an inquiry has heard.

Eighty-six year-old Allan Wallace was left with severe bruising, a swollen nose and bite marks after he was attacked by a 76-year-old at Mapleford, in Huncoat, in October 2015.

His death triggered an Lancashire Adult Safeguarding Board review, which has identified difficulties in securing a mental health bed for the 76-year-old.

Specialists from Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust had decided the attacker, after spending two-and-a-half months in mental health facilities, should be discharged to Mapleford.

Within days he assaulted another resident there and he later attacked a staff member and another patient.

The review was told before Mr Wallace was beaten, efforts were being made to find an alternative placement for the 76-year-old, due to his “very challenging and difficult behaviours”.

An inquest jury at Blackburn in 2016 ruled Mr Wallace died as a result of natural causes, contributed to by injuries he sustained in the attack.

Later the attacker was sectioned under the Mental Health Act and hospitalised. He had assaulted staff and fellow residents at three different homes, the inquiry heard.

In the review’s conclusions, difficulties were identified in finding a mental health bed for him, and the quality of information sharing between the NHS trust, home and Lancashire County Council was questioned.

Author Nikki Walker Hall said: “The risk of the current system is that the shortfalls in provision are leaving patients who pose the greatest risk, living in environments where all residents are vulnerable, for too long, after they are assessed as needing detention.”

A Lancashire Care spokesman said: “In some cases, our clinicians are working with people who are very unwell and have complex needs, lack capacity and display behaviour that is unpredictable and challenging to manage.

“This can lead to difficulties and delays in trying to find suitable care home placements that are able to accommodate people with such needs. The trust has fully engaged in the review in order to continually improve practice.”