A 91-YEAR-OLD woman in the advanced stages of terminal cancer, died after choking on a beef sandwich in hospital.

Edith Broom, a resident at Seymour House in Chippenham, had been admitted to Chippenham Hospital almost a month earlier with an infection.

She had complained of breathing and swallowing difficulties in the days before her death on March 1, and had also nearly choked on a sprout at lunchtime.

Her daughter, Mrs Sheila Avery, told a Trowbridge inquest on Wednesday that she had asked a doctor to see her mother but she was not seen until five days later.

She also questioned her mother being given a beef sandwich for her tea.

"It didn't seem the right thing to give her because she had difficulty swallowing," said Mrs Avery, of London Road, Chippenham.

However, staff nurse Linda Bird, who was one of four nurses on duty on the evening Mrs Broom died, said the patient had chosen the meal of carrot soup followed by the sandwich, which had been cut into small squares. There had been no indication she could not cope with normal food.

Mrs Bird said: "She could choose her own menu and ate her own meals."

But, she said, the incident with the sprout at lunchtime should have been recorded in Mrs Broom's notes.

When tea had been served to patients in the day room, Mrs Bird heard coughing and went in to see Mrs Broom in her wheelchair obviously in difficulty.

"She had tissues in her hand. She was bending forward and coughing," she said.

Staff attempted to stop the choking but were unsuccessful. Paramedics were called and tried to revive the patient, who had now stopped breathing.

Pathologist Dr Alison St John said she found a small piece of beef in Mrs Broom's larynx, which was the main cause of death.

Coroner David Masters recorded a verdict of misadventure, but expressed concern that Mrs Avery's request for a doctor had not been acted on for five days and the choking on a sprout just hours earlier had not been reported.