"Errors and omissions" at a Birmingham hospital led to the death of a pensioner who fell out of a bed, even though it was fitted with cot sides, it has been claimed.

Seventy-four-year-old Violet Parkes, who had had a hip operation, died at Heartlands Hospital in July 2004 after twice falling out of bed, an inquest heard.

Her daughter Andrea Massey, a nurse, said that her mother, a retired press operator from Pix-hall Walk, Castle Vale, was admitted to Heartlands on June 9, 2004 after falling at a residential home.

An operation was carried out 13 days later to mend her fractured hip and she seemed to be progressing well, Mrs Massey said.

However, Mrs Parkes then suffered another fall from her hospital bed in the early hours of the morning.

Mrs Massey said she understood that her mother was discovered on the floor with a cot side underneath her. She said she believed the bed had subsequently been examined and found that a screw on the cot sides had become loose and that 30 similar beds had been tested, 29 of which had at least one loose screw.

Mrs Massey said it was discovered that her mother's hip had re-fractured as a result of the fall and she was transferred to another ward.

She said her mother was put in an ordinary bed which was not fitted with cot sides.

The receiving nurse in that ward, she claimed, had not been told of her mother's previous fall and that within one and a half hours of her transfer her mother fell out of bed again.

She said she believed her mother's two falls at the hospital were the result of "errors and omissions" and went on: "I believe this caused her deterioration and death". The hearing continues.