STOCKPORT’S coroner has demanded more rigorous checks from doctors responsible for nursing home residents, after an 87-year-old woman contracted MRSA and died.

John Pollard’s call came at the inquest of Eva Duckworth where he heard evidence that the Edgeley grandmother had a 16cm bedsore on her lower back when she was admitted to hospital from a Stockport care home.

The sore became infected with MRSA which ultimately led to her death. However her back had not been examined by the home’s doctor, as he said he had not been alerted to any skin problems.

Mr Pollard, who concluded Mrs Duckworth died of natural causes, is now writing to the home and to GP Dr John Swarbrick, demanding full body checks should become routine, normal practice for all nursing home residents.

"I have serious concerns about a situation where GPs take over the care of an elderly patient and do not carry out routine thorough examinations," he said. "Something simple like a break in the skin can ultimately lead to the loss of life."

Nursing home bosses, who had only taken over the home in May 2007, admitted at the inquest on Tuesday that when Mrs Duckworth was a resident, the home had been ‘dirty’, it ‘smelled like a public toilet’ and was in desperate need of renovation.

Speaking about conditions when she was taken ill, the home’s operations manager Eddie Kasprowicz said: "When we first took over we realised there were significant problems."

He said he had held a meeting with residents’ relatives in May, and had ‘had to apologise for the smell, like a public toilet’.

A huge clean-up was started, but on July 9, at the time when Mrs Duckworth was admitted to Stepping Hill Hospital, the work was still on-going, and at this week’s inquest Mr Kasprowicz admitted there was still work to be done.

Mrs Duckworth had the huge bedsore on her back when she died last August.

Dr Swarbrick, giving evidence at the inquest, said he had not been advised by nurses that Mrs Duckworth had pressure sores, so had not made an examination. He said he only became aware of the sores, when she was examined by another doctor on 8 July.

Mr Pollard concluded that the sore had left her susceptible to MRSA, which could have been contracted in the nursing home or the hospital, but which ultimately lead to a chronic case of meningitis.

He recorded a verdict of natural causes.

Outside the Coroner’s Court, Mrs Duckworth’s daughters said they were appalled when they received demands for cash for their mum’s stay at the home - on the day of her funeral.

Norma Earp and Lynn Harris claim the £2,000 bill came as a ‘complete shock’ because their mum had moved out of the home, into hospital, six weeks before she died.

"We couldn’t believe it when we received a letter saying we owed money for the home – they have been hounding us ever since," claimed Norma. "The most shocking part is that we had moved mum out weeks before and told them to pass on her old clothes to other people in the home who were destitute, because we knew then that mum was nearing the end," she added. "It’s so upsetting, especially when we have had to hear from the owners of the home the disgusting conditions she was living under."

A spokesman for Stockport Council disputed the cost of the bill, commenting: "The outstanding bill is less than £2,000. The Council and Mrs Duckworth’s family have been in discussion regarding this matter for some time. In view of the circumstances surrounding this complicated matter, it would be inappropriate for the Council to comment further."