THE family of an elderly woman who died after a fall at a care home want to see a change in policy after staff failed to give her medical aid.

Rosemary Millard, 95, of Catterick Garrison, died after she suffered a fractured hip at the North Yorkshire County Council- run Brentwood Lodge, where she was receiving respite care.

Staff at the home, in Leyburn, told an inquest yesterday that she said she was fine after her fall on Boxing Day last year. They did not get medical help or ask for an x-ray to assess her.

Care worker Vivienne Squirrel told the inquest: “I heard a thud in the hallway and went running out to find her.

“I checked her over and she seemed to be in no pain. I asked her if she was and she said no.

“I got her up the next day and she seemed fine. I checked her again and she walked through for her breakfast.”

Mrs Millard’s daughter Judith, and her husband, Gavin, arrived to collect her that day.

They say Mrs Millard, who suffered from dementia, was taken home to Constantine Avenue and screamed in pain whenever she was touched.

A doctor was called and Mrs Millard was taken to the Friarage Hospital, in Northallerton, North Yorkshire.

There, the fracture was found and Mrs Millard died in hospital on Friday, February 13. Gavin Cleminson, Mrs Millard’s son-in-law, said after the inquest: “We want to change the policy of the county council-run homes.

“I can’t understand how carers at the home can make a medical decision that would take a doctor years of study to be able to do. We can’t put right what’s happened, but we don’t want it to happen again.

“If someone has a fall, we want an ambulance to be called to take them to hospital for an x-ray or for a doctor to check them out.”

Michael Oakley, coroner for the eastern district of North Yorkshire, recorded a verdict of accidental death.

A council spokesman said: “We pass on our sincere sympathies to the family of Mrs Millard for their loss.

“We are always saddened and concerned when anyone dies having been in our care. In circumstances such as these it is important for us to review our policies.”