AN 89-year-old woman suffering from Alzheimer's disease fell and broke her hip at The Mount in Accrington where she was a long-term patient.

An inquest heard that retired weaver Amy Hope underwent surgery to repair the joint but subsequently died of bronchopneumonia.

Her husband Percy Hope, of Trinity Court, Blackburn, said in a statement read to the inquest that he and Amy had married in 1934 and had three sons.

Three years before her death she begun acting strangely and Alzheimer's had been diagnosed. He said the condition became progressively worse and 18 months before her death Amy had become a permanent resident in first Queen's Park Hospital and then The Mount, in Whalley Road, Accrington.

He told how he would visit his wife every day and hold her hand and comfort her but she could no longer communicate.

Staff nurse Roberta Robertson told the inquest that Amy needed full nursing care and was unable to walk without assistance. On the day she fell Mrs Robertson and another member of staff had been helping a patient when she saw Amy stand up and start to walk across the floor before falling.

Deputy coroner Carolyn Singleton recorded a verdict of accidental death after hearing that bronchopneumonia had developed as a result of immobility following the operation.

Mr Edward Hope, one of Amy's sons, said he and his family would like to express their gratitude to all the staff at The Mount for the care that they had given to his mother.