A 77-YEAR-OLD man suffering from dementia lost an ‘extreme amount of weight’ within days of moving into an independent hospital in Birchwood an inquest has heard.

The jury at Warrington Coroner’s Court on Tuesday heard how Brian Gerrard, a retired stock controller, developed symptoms of the incurable disease in 2011.

The dad-of-two went to Hollins Park Hospital in Winwick before he was moved to Abbey Court in 2014, where his family said he rapidly deteriorated.

Daughter Susan Perrin said: “The illness started off with little things – forgetfulness. It was the start of this horrendous process we were about to go through.

“For example he thought he had put the double glazing in himself. He thought my mum was having an affair at one point.

“He was always quite a forthright person and he never accepted that he had dementia.

“Dad was a very clever bloke and he found it extremely difficult.

“He didn’t like it at hospital. He escaped twice. He followed a visitor out and shouted ‘I’m free!’ It was only because he shouted that they knew they had someone on the loose.”

The family decided to move him to Abbey Court in July 2014, where staff advised Ms Perrin not to visit for a week as it would help her dad settle in.

She said the next time she saw him the change in his condition was dramatic: “I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. He was in his bed, wet. He was complaining that he had a pain in his back. He had lost an extreme amount of weight.

“He was grey, he looked like a man of 100. He just wasn’t the same in the space of a week.

“The nurse said everything was normal and to be expected. That night the paramedics were called out because his blood pressure was so low he collapsed.”

She said Mr Gerrard ‘demolished’ a chocolate bar she had brought for him and she asked a member of staff to order him food supplements as she believed he was not eating properly.

By September 15 2014, Ms Perrin said the supplements had not arrived and was told to speak to the district nurse, who told her the nutritional drinks had never been ordered.

“It felt like a hopeless situation. You are in the hands of someone else,” she said.

“He never expressed a wish to die to any member of his family.”

Dr Rosemary Cameron, consultant old age psychiatrist, cared for Mr Gerrard at Hollins Park Hospital and oversaw his transfer to the private hospital.

“You would expect the illness to deteriorate over time,” she said.

“Part of the illness is that patients do not eat an adequate diet. I would expect nursing staff to be aware of what he was eating.

“I thought Abbey Court was the place that would be able to meet Mr Gerrard’s needs.”

The hearing into the cause of Mr Gerrard’s death continues.