A GRIEVING daughter whose mother died following a fall in hospital claims questions about her mum's treatment remain unanswered despite the intervention of the health service Ombudsman.

Eighty-four-year-old Mrs Millie Miller died in North Manchester General Hospital after being admitted last August suffering serious back pain.

Although the Ombudsman's department cleared the North Manchester General Hospital Trust of any negligence, Mrs Iris Redikin, of Randale Drive, Unsworth, is convinced that her mum would still be alive today had the medical staff listened to her concerns.

Mrs Miller, who lived in Salford, was due to be discharged from hospital early in September as soon as a bed became available at a nursing home in Prestwich.

Mrs Redikin said she was told by a doctor that her mother had "a good four to five years" left to live. However, Mrs Miller suffered a fall which resulted in an operation on her hip. Subsequent problems with infection after surgery eventually led to her death in mid-October.

Mrs Redikin believes that had her mother been provided with a walking frame, which she had been dependant on for the previous five years, rather than a stick, then she would not have fallen.

She said: "I wish I had taken my mother home as soon as I knew she was waiting to be transferred to a nursing home.

"My mum was an independent, active person before she went into hospital and during her stay there her health deteriorated and she became very weak and sickly."

She added: " I had complained about her medication which I thought was making her even more ill and the fact she wasn't given a walking frame.

"The medical staff should never have given her a stick to use. And it was clearly stated that my mum should always be supervised when walking in the hospital."

Mrs Redikin added: "The hospital told me the fall was caused by a mini-stroke. But obviously there was no one with her while she was using the stick otherwise she wouldn't have had the fall."

Mrs Redikin, who has two children, contacted the Ombudsman after she claimed the Trust failed to provide satisfactory answers to her questions about the treatment.

She said: "My mother should have been given a walking frame and I want to know why she wasn't. I also had questions about her medication and the fact that I was not made aware of how serious her condition was following the fall."

After Mrs Miller's death, her daughter discovered a do not resuscitate (DNR) remark on her medical notes.

"I couldn't believe it, the doctors knew how serious her condition was," she said.

"The note actually stated 'I cannot see this lady surviving in the presence of all these medical problems which do not seem to be responding to treatment'.

"Had I known, I might have been able to spend more time with her and been there when she died."

A letter to Mrs Redikin said the Ombudsman would not carry out an investigation and that the department was satisfied with the Trust's answers.

The letter stated that Mrs Miller "tried with a frame but had been unable to stand.

"Neither of the Ombudsman's clinical advisers are of the view that these falls were in any way linked to a lack of appropriate equipment or to her medication."

The coroner said during the inquest into Mrs Miller's death: "It was clearly not possible to have someone next to a patient 24 hours each day and that there was a difficulty in that patients would try to walk even though they had been told they needed assistance."

The Ombudsman also cleared the hospital of other complaints made by Mrs Redikin with regards to medication, although the Trust has apologised for lapses in communication with Mrs Redikin.