AN inquest into the death of an 86-year-old man who resided in Dunmurry Manor care home is to be held almost six years after he died.
A pre-inquest hearing into the death of John Donnelly will be heard next Tuesday, May 10 with the full inquest expected to be held later this year.
The case was referred to the coroner following a police investigation into Mr Donnelly's death in October 2016.
In 2018, a report by the Commissioner for Older People for Northern Ireland (COPNI) into Dunmurry Manor, on the outskirts of west Belfast, listed a litany of failings in the care provided in the home.
Speaking ahead of the inquest, his daughter Ana Kerr said she had serious concerns about her father’s care in the home, including the management and administration of his medication.
Her father - a keen sportsman in his younger years who was part of the Tyrone minor All-Ireland winning team in 1948 - had been taking anti-blood clotting medication Warfarin since 1989.
Regular blood tests need to be carried out on patients who take Warfarin to make sure they are being given the correct dosage.
Ms Kerr, who is represented by solicitor Claire McKeegan of Phoenix Law, said she had concerns that regular tests had not been carried out, particularly since he was prescribed antibiotics which had the potential to interact with Warfarin.
She also raised concerns about the home’s record-keeping.
“I was there every day,” she said.
“I would ask the nurses every day if everything was okay. No one said to me they were having issues getting daddy’s blood. No one said to me his Warfarin levels are high… No one ever wrote to me to advise me of these issues.”
She said her father had “fallen between the stools of shared care between the home, the GP and the hospital”.
She said no one ever explained to her who exactly was responsible for different aspects of his medical care.
“My priority day-to-day was ‘is he happy, is he eating, is he sleeping, are his clothes being washed, is he being cared for?’,” she said.
Mr Donnelly, who had been diagnosed with dementia, had been in supported living in Glenowen Court on the Andersonstown Road.
Following a fall in 2015 and a period in hospital, he moved into Dunmurry Manor in May 2016.
In 2016, Mr Donnelly was given an award by Carrickmore GAC in recognition of his impressive playing career.
"He was very proud of his GAA background and his railway work," Ms Kerr said.
"He just lived for his family, for mummy and I.
"He was a very gentle, kind, good-hearted man."
Ms Kerr, her parents' only child, visited her father every day while he was in Dunmurry Manor.
“My mother died in the year 2000. The three of us were close and then the two of us were very close," she said.
“I was at every doctor’s appointment, every hospital appointment, everything he needed."
She said she grew increasingly concerned about her father's care the longer he stayed in Dunmurry Manor.
“I was there every day and I went to their meetings where they would assure us that there would be more staff employed and that they were doing this, that and the other," she said.
“Nothing was materialising. I was beginning to realise I should move daddy out.”
On September 28 2016, around five months after he went into Dunmurry Manor, he was admitted to hospital.
He died in the City Hospital in Belfast on October 17 2016 from a bleed on the brain.
Peter Canavan and other former Tyrone players attended Mr Donnelly's funeral in Carrickmore.
Ms Kerr later complained about the care her father had received. She was eventually told that a serious adverse event had been reported following her father’s death.
She was interviewed by COPNI as part of their damning report into Dunmurry Manor.
Ms Kerr said she was horrified by the contents of the report.
“I nearly died,” she said. “It was shocking, absolutely shocking."
Runwood Homes has since undergone a rebrand and become Kathryn Homes NI.
Dunmurry Manor has been renamed Oak Tree Manor care home.
Kathryn Homes has been contacted several times for comment.
Ms Kerr is part of the Dunmurry Manor support group, led by Julieann McNally.
COPNI is keeping a watching brief on Ms Kerr’s case.
In March, an independent report found residents of Dunmurry Manor were badly let down by a failure to properly address complaints about the facility.
It also said the inspection body the Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority (RQIA); the Health and Social Care Board: the health and social care trusts (HSCTs) involved with the home; and Patient and Client Council (PCC) all did not adequately address the complaints.
The report was one of a series commissioned by the Department of Health in 2018, in response to COPNI investigation.
