HEALTH bosses have pledged to investigate the care an Alzheimer's patient received at a Suffolk day hospital once a police inquiry is complete.The police investigation into how the late Graham Barrett suffered sustained a severe mystery injury at the Wedgewood Day Hospital in Bury St Edmunds is due to finish in two weeks' time.

HEALTH bosses have pledged to investigate the care an Alzheimer's patient received at a Suffolk day hospital once a police inquiry is complete.

The police investigation into how the late Graham Barrett suffered sustained a severe mystery injury at the Wedgewood Day Hospital in Bury St Edmunds is due to finish in two weeks' time.

Mr Barrett, who died early this year, was a patient at the Suffolk Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust unit when he suffered a compound fracture to his hip.

Police have been investigating whether the injury was the result of criminal conduct, and are currently waiting for pathologist reports.

Mr Barrett's daughter, Jan Crane, welcomed the news that the unit would hold its own investigation.

She said the severity of the injury suffered by Mr Barrett remained a mystery

“One of the team explained the level of injury and that it normally took a thrust from the feet or knees such as an impact in a car crash to thrust the leg into the hip with enough force to cause the damage seen to his joint,” she said.

Mrs Crane said the injury left her father unable to walk: “Because of his Alzheimer's they couldn't do a hip replacement - you have to sit still afterwards, and you can't tell someone with Alzheimer's to stay still as they will forget.

“They had to just leave it to fuse together, which it did - but as a result he couldn't walk.”

Doctors who examined him apparently found no signs of osteoporosis or any other degenerative bone condition at the time that might have explained the severity of the fracture.

His daughter said: “He used to be so fit and he was always a keen cyclist - the autopsy showed his organs were fine and very healthy for a man of his age.

“We are awaiting the pathologist's report as he had no health problems apart from his Alzheimer's that we knew of. It would be nice to have some answers.”

Robert Nesbitt, director of the trust, said: “I have heard the police investigation is going to be finished soon and we want to do our own investigation - to take a look at how the care was delivered. We will be looking at all aspects of the care given.”

A police spokesman said: “We are waiting for the reports to come back from the pathologist, which should be in about two weeks time.

“Depending on the findings we will know whether it will be taken on for further investigation.”