Concerns were raised following the death of a retired 86-year-old research director that the emergency services had not acted quickly enough.

Roger Drury Browne was found collapsed at his home in Maritime House, Discovery Quay, Falmouth in a pretty bad way on December 2 last year.

The alarm was raised by the district nurses in his care team who could not get a response when they went to his flat that day.

Both the fire brigade and the ambulance service were called to the address. Firefighters broke in and found him collapsed in the hallway in a very poor condition.

He was removed by paramedics and taken to the Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro for treatment where he improved slightly but it was eventually decided that he could only be made comfortable.

He was moved to Mount Edgcumbe Hospice before being taken to King Charles Court Nursing Home in Falmouth where he died on December 27, 2020.

The inquest, conducted virtually by assistant coroner Stephen Covell, heard that Mr Browne had dementia and had a stroke as well as being fitted with a pacemaker. His wife Hannah Laura Browne had died some time earlier earlier.

Mr Browne was living at home and was visited twice a week by district nurses who last saw him on November 30, 2020.

The district nurses said they had concerns about the delay in gaining access to the property by the fire brigade and they also felt the transfer into the ambulance was substandard because they weren't able to enter the property quickly as could be expected.

An investigation found that the fire service acted correctly after a risk assessment carried out by the incident commander.

"The PPE that was used by the fire service personnel was appropriate for the tasks expected to be carried out in line with delivering statutory duties and to protect the individuals carrying out their duties," said Mr Covell. He said the investigation into the ambulance service had found there was no case to answer in terms of the time taken for crew to enter the property.

"On the day it was responsible in nature as the fire service have a responsibility to explore options before they forced entry and the paramedics had to ensure that the correct PPE was in place before entry and in line with guidance at the time," he said.

Mr Covell said they were in the midst of a pandemic at the time and crews were required to don a minimum of grade two PPE before patient contact and it was believed that that accounted for the perceived delay in entering the property.

Concerns as to whether there was neglect in his care up to Dec 2 were also found not to be substantiated after a review.

Recording a verdict of accidental death as the fall and its consequences had not been expected, coroner Stephen Covell said the causes of death were pneumonia, a fall, frailty and dementia.