AN elderly woman died in hospital of septicemia 10 days after being admitted, an inquest was told.

Ethel Lowe was taken into Wigan Infirmary last December after becoming ill with bed sores and a chest infection in her Leigh care home. Mrs Lowe, aged 85, had been at the home for around 18 months after arthritis had caused her to become immobile.

When she became bed ridden in November 2002, she developed bed sores which later became infected.

Mrs Lowe, from Myrtle Avenue in Leigh, was then given antibiotics and painkillers for the bed sores and a chest infection on December 7.

She complained of severe pain over that weekend and a doctor was called on Monday, December 16 who arranged for a consultant to see Mrs Lowe later the same day and it was decided that she should be taken to hospital.

Mrs Lowe was taken to the hospital the next day but, despite receiving treatment for the infections, she died 10 days later.

Coroner Jennifer Leeming recorded a verdict of natural causes.

Mrs Lowe's family expressed concern that she might not have died if she had been admitted a day earlier but pathologist Dr David Barker said the large abscess which led to the septicemia would not have been avoided.