AN 84-year-old former seamstress who died after falling in hospital was suffering from lung cancer, but no-one knew.

An inquest into the death of Joan Allen, of Heol Y Waun, Bradley, Wrexham, heard she died at Wrexham Maelor Hospital on August 18 after she "lost her footing" and fractured her hip on a visit to the toilet.

Consultant pathologist Dr Mark Atkinson said the cause of Mrs Allen's death was lung cancer which had spread to her lymph nodes which was only discovered during the post-mortem examination, as well as pneumonia and COPD.

Mrs Allen's chronic bronchitis, diabetes, dementia, osteoporosis and old age "would not have helped," according to Dr Atkinson.

However John Gittins, coroner for North East Wales and Central, said the death was not due to natural causes but as a result of an accidental fall.

Members of the family, who also attended the inquest, said they were "very shocked" about the discovery of lung cancer.

Mr Gittins told the hearing at Ruthin: "Mrs Allen had a fall which was a catalyst in her decline.

"While mobilising back from the bathroom, Mrs Allen fell onto her bottom and broke her hip."

The inquest heard Mrs Allen, who was being treated at the Maelor for a chest infection as well as receiving care for dementia, received an operation on August 14, two days after falling in the ward bathroom.

The coroner pointed out the family were only made aware of the operation to mend the fracture when they visited her in hospital after it had taken place.

He said communication between loved ones of patients and doctors could be "one of the things that families feel let down by".

Dr Walee Sayed, orthopaedic consultant at Wrexham Maelor for 11 years, said: "An X-ray showed this lady had a fractured femur, which would have been very painful, would have made it difficult to toilet, and moving in bed would be painful.

"In spite of being high risk, she was deemed as being eligible to have the operation in hospital to give quality of life.

"Without it she probably would have developed a chest infection and a urine infection due to immobility, so the operation was absolutely needed.

"The best option of doing the surgery is in the first 24 hours. If we had waited to do the operation, the patient would be lying in bed, confused and her condition would worsen."

After the operation, the doctor said, Mrs Allen remained "low and confused" and had high blood pressure as well as a chest infection.

There were "no red flags" that the operation had not gone well.

Mr Gittins, who concluded the death was accidental, said despite the pre-existing lung cancer he was "not convinced" Mrs Allen would have "passed away when she did" if she had not had the hip operation, and that she died as she was "not able to deal with the recovery".