battered and bruised, this is how 95 year old monica bridle spent her last days she could be mistaken for a victim of a mugging or a car crash but the vicious purple welts, spreading from her cheekbones to her forehead, were not caused by any collision or assault the pensioner, mother to a large loving family, had simply been tipped out of her bed by a bungling healthcare assistant at southampton general hospital incredibly, the hospital did not even think to tell mrs bridle’s family her daughter only found out when she visited her mother the next day monica bridle, 95 (pictured) spent her last days alive covered in purple bruises across her cheeks and forehead after being tipped out of her bed by a bungling healthcare assistant at southampton general hospital  this shocking incident, a damning example of the problems at the heart of our health service, is revealed in a report by the parliamentary and health service ombudsman an agency worker attempted to change mrs bridle’s sheets without moving her – knocking her down the gap between the bed and the wall and when nurses put mrs bridle back in her bed, they thought so little of the incident that they did not bother telling her family the ombudsman found that the university hospital southampton nhs trust, which was in charge of mrs bridle’s care in the spring of 2013, had not followed proper procedures during the incident, or in the hours afterwards at least two workers should have helped move her, the incident should have been properly logged, and her relatives should have been informed mrs bridle, whose family includes three children, six grandchildren and six great grandchildren, died five days after the accident she had been battling pneumonia for six weeks and her death was not linked to the accident mrs bridle (pictured) had been battling pneumonia for six weeks and her death was not linked to the accident, but her large family are furious at the lack of respect with which she was treated in her final days  but her large family are still furious at the lack of respect with which she was treated in her final days her daughter maureen wylie, 60, did not hear about the accident until she visited her mother the next day at her nursing home mrs bridle had been discharged back to the home without the family being told, and there had been no mention of the accident mrs wylie, who still gets flashbacks of her mother’s battered face two years later, decided to speak to the daily mail in an attempt to stop similar incidents happening to others ‘i feel so numb and angry,’ she said ‘those horrible bruises are my enduring memory of her death ‘i remember very clearly seeing her face like that for the first time i stood there shaking i thought, what on earth have they done to her?’ the parliamentary and health service ombudsman found the university hospital southampton nhs trust had not followed proper procedures over the incident at southampton general hospital (pictured) mrs bridle was fiercely independent, a keen gardener and loving grandmother she had worked with her late husband charles at an insurance firm in hampshire after his death she had lived by herself in lyndhurst, in the new forest, only moving into a nursing home when her eyesight failed the year before her death health ombudsman julie mellor said: ‘this story shows the importance of following clearly laid care plans it also highlights the effect poor communication in the health service can have on people’ judy gillow of university hospital southampton nhs foundation trust, said: ‘we have unreservedly apologised to the family in addition to intensive retraining and monitoring, we have introduced an electronic system for reporting falls and implemented much more stringent processes for communication with relatives’
monica bridle southampton general hospital daughter maureen
monica bridle was treated at southampton general hospital for pneumonia . she fell between bed and wall when agency worker tried to change  sheets . but staff did not log incident or inform her family   she died five days later . ombudsman found trust had not followed proper procedures over incident . daughter maureen said: 'those horrible bruises are my enduring memory of her death'