Coroner blasts Flash death hospital

A coroner has hit out at the “serious failings” of a hospital trust following the death of a patient who died after drinking Flash floor cleaner which was put in a water jug on her bedside table.

Joan Blaber died six days after drinking the fluid at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton last year.

The 85-year-old, from Lewes, East Sussex, was admitted with a minor stroke on 22 August but her condition worsened after the incident on 17 September and she died on 23 September. At Brighton and Hove Coroner’s Court on Wednesday, a jury returned a narrative conclusion stating: “Evidence leads us to believe there was widespread confusion surrounding the water jug system that was in place and that jugs were being misused.”