JEP Investigates: "You could see the bone... Eddie's pain must have been excruciating"

The widow of an 81-year-old man who died in Jersey’s General Hospital six years ago after developing one of the worst pressure sores local nurses had ever seen has today broken her silence – as new figures uncovered by the JEP reveal the problem has only got worse.

After Eddie Childe’s painful death, why are more patients arriving at hospital with pressure sores than ever before? And what has – or hasn’t – changed?

On the first day of our Island Insight investigation into pressure sores, we speak to Denise Childe about the reality of losing a loved one with a pressure sore and her urgent calls for action…

WHEN 81-year-old Roland Edmund Baldwyn Childe was admitted to hospital from a care home, the pressure sore he carried was so severe that an experienced nurse called it “one of the worst I’ve ever seen”.

An inquest into his death led to promises of change – but six years later, shocking new figures show that pressure sores on admission to Jersey General Hospital have reached a five-year high.

Figures obtained by the JEP under the Freedom of Information Law revealed that there were 297 pressure sores present upon inpatient admission to the General Hospital last year – up from 171 in 2019.

Pressure sores are damage to the skin that comes from sustained pressure, with the most serious cases resulting in full tissue loss, and potentially bone, tendon or muscle being exposed. They can happen to anyone, but usually affect people confined to bed or who sit in a chair or wheelchair for long periods of time.

The increase of pressure sores in Jersey comes over two years after an inquest into the death of Mr Childe, which prompted the Deputy Viscount to “write to various agencies to set out learning points in the hope that this may aid future policies”.

Mr Childe, who was known as Eddie, was taken from his care home to the Emergency Department a month before his death with a severe chest infection and sepsis. He had also been suffering from dementia for five years.

Although Mr Childe’s sepsis was successfully treated, he developed aspiration pneumonia and died naturally at the General Hospital on 13 August 2019.

Aspiration pneumonia due to Parkinson’s Disease was given as the primary cause of death, but a consultant physician said that Mr Childe’s infected pressure sore was a “significant contributory factor”.

In 2023, the inquest into his death heard evidence from various professionals involved in Mr Childe’s care in his final months – many of whom voiced concerns about the severity of his pressure sore.

His GP called the wound “horrendous” and an experienced specialist tissue viability nurse described it as “one of the most serious I’ve ever seen”.

Since her husband’s death almost six years ago, Denise Childe has been campaigning tirelessly for more education and awareness around pressure sores.

Pictured: Denise Childe has been campaigning for more education and awareness around pressure sores since the death of her husband in 2019.

Speaking to the JEP, she said her husband “had the most terrible death”.

“Nobody should have a death like that,” said Mrs Childe.

“That’s why I’m determined to share his story, to stop this happening to anyone else – because it’s still going on.”

Mr Childe’s pressure sore was first noted in November 2018, when he was being cared for at L’Hermitage Care Home.

In June 2019, he was moved to Beaumont Villa Care Home – a dementia unit located within the grounds of L’Hermitage.

Mrs Childe shared entries from her diary during the time when she was visiting her husband. She repeatedly referred to being “sad and worried” about his worsening pressure sore, and was concerned that Mr Childe was spending too much time in his bed and wheelchair.

“For more than nine months, my husband suffered excruciating pain,” she said. “How could this have happened?”

Mrs Childe also said there was no dedicated doctor at the care home, and that she had paid £80 per week for the family GP to visit her husband twice.

She estimated that between care home fees, medical care and physiotherapy, she was spending around £8,000 a month – acknowledging that such costs would be unsustainable for many other Islanders.

“To put loved ones into a care home is one of the hardest decisions anyone has to make,” she said.

“I trusted them to care for my husband but, in my opinion, they failed.

“Something from my husband’s death has to be said or done.”

Looking back, Mrs Childe said that her husband’s pain became her own.

“I couldn’t sleep at night,” she said.

“I would come home from visiting him sobbing, and then would go and see him the next day and pretend to smile.”

Mrs Childe said that when she first saw her husband’s pressure sore, she “felt sick” and “nearly fainted”.

“It was horrific,” she explained.

“His bottom was black, and the pressure sore was very large and deep – you could see the bone.”

Mrs Childe shared photographs of her husband’s pressure sore with the JEP. The images – which were deemed too graphic for publication – show a gaping wound on Mr Childe’s lower back, over his tailbone.

The photos show an open, blackened cavity with exposed bone at its centre and decaying tissue around the edges. The surrounding skin is red and inflamed, and the wound appears to be leaking yellow pus onto a blood-stained dressing. It is a deeply distressing image.

“Eddie’s pain must have been excruciating, but he could not tell them,” said Mrs Childe.

Following her husband’s death, Mrs Childe is calling for more education and awareness around pressure sores in the Island’s care home – including mandatory full-body skin checks, turning residents at least every two hours, and ensuring they are not left sitting in wheelchairs for more than 30 minutes at a time.

She described visiting her husband to find he had been left in his chair for four hours, with staff claiming he had “not wanted to move”.

Mrs Childe warned that signs of pressure sores must be acted on immediately, and said current practices risk allowing early sores to develop into life-threatening wounds.

“If there’s a sign that a pressure sore is starting, it must be checked immediately,” she said.

I want justice for my husband. He had a terrible death and I don’t want anyone else to die like that. I’m still so angry about it.
denise childe, widow of eddie childe

Mrs Childe said she had spoken to other families whose loved ones had also developed serious pressure sores, but who lacked the financial means to take action.

“Those sorts of pressure sores are still happening,” she said. “Other people are going through the same thing, but they can’t do anything about it.

“It is still going on. That is why I want to share my story.”

Mrs Childe felt that “no one has faced repercussions” over her husband’s death.

“I want justice for my husband,” she said. “He had a terrible death and I don’t want anyone else to die like that. I’m still so angry about it.”

A spokesperson for L’Hermitage Care Centre said: “We are unable to comment on this specific matter as it occurred under previous ownership in 2019, prior to the home being acquired by Aria Care in 2022.

“The health, safety and wellbeing of our residents is our absolute priority and we will always act in their best interest. Since taking over the home, we have introduced robust guidance and several new processes to support colleagues to ensure we provide the highest standards of care to our residents and this includes how we proactively manage pressure damage should it occur.”

Tomorrow: The team at Family Nursing & Home Care provide an update on an Island-wide strategy and call for a shift in focus from treating wounds to preventing them in the first place.