A PENSIONER suffered a brain haemorrhage after she fell out of bed at a Rossendale rest home, an Burnley inquest heard.

The inquest heard how Dorothy Kershaw, 92, had been at the Deerplay Residential Home in Weir for three weeks and was put to bed as usual on April 13.

A carer at the home told the court she checked on the pensioner as she was doing her rounds and gave her with a glass of water.

Carer Freyer Barrett had worked at the home for six months. She said: "A colleague came on at 10pm and I had been on since 3pm. I sleep there in case of an emergency during the night. "My colleague and did her rounds about midnight. checking the rooms to make sure everybody is in bed and asleep. There are 16 residents living at the home and I believe she checked on Mrs Kershaw and she said she wanted a glass of water. She was frail and couldn't get out of bed on her own. Her bed didn't have cot sides because she didn't want them.

"About three quarters of an hour later I was in bed in my room. on the first floor the same as Mrs Kershaw's. I heard a noise coming from Mrs Kershaw's room. She was on the floor and conscious and I went to get the other carer. I looked her over to see if she was all right and noticed she had bumped her face. I told the other carer to phone the Paramedics, she didn't appear to have hit anything as she fell. I asked her if she was all right, I just wanted to keep talking to her and didn't think to ask her how she had fallen."

A post mortem examination carried out on April 16 found bruising to the front of Mrs Kershaw's face and to her right eye and right cheek.

The pathologist reported: "There was a haemorrhage between the brain tissue and the membrane which was caused by sudden, rapid movement of the brain when she fell out of bed. Mrs Kershaw suffered a subdural brain haemorrhage."

Acting East Lancashire Coroner Richard Taylor recorded a verdict of accidental death.