'Please help me': Desperate final words of 'neglected and forgotten' great-grandmother as she lay dying of lung cancer and covered in mystery bruises in a hospital bed

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A heartbroken daughter has released disturbing footage of the moment she found her dying mother covered in mystery bruising in a urine-soaked hospital bed, before she begged: 'Please help me'.

Loraine Yarnold had gone to visit her 77-year-old mother Caroline Fellows at Sandwell Hospital, West Midlands, when she found her arms covered in shocking deep purple bruising. 

In the days before she died, Ms Yarnold also found the great-grandmother - who was battling lung cancer - lying in her own urine, amid claims she had been left there for up to eight hours.

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Loraine Yarnold (left) said her 77-year-old mother Caroline Fellows (right) was 'neglected' by staff at Sandwell Hospital, West Midlands, in the final days of her life as she battled lung cancer

Ms Yarnold took these photographs after finding her mother covered in deep, purple bruising in hospital  

She later found a dictaphone recording next to her mother's bedside in which she was allegedly heard whispering in desperation: 'Please help me'.

The family has now won an apology from the hospital after Ms Yarnold claimed her mother was 'neglected and forgotten' in the days before her death.

She told the Birmingham Mail: 'I'm disgusted by the way they treated her. It was shocking. We all have to get old some day and she deserved to be treated with care - there was no care.

'She was crying out for help and no one would help her.'

Ms Fellows was admitted to Sandwell Hospital in July 2014 after suffering breathing difficulties. Her family claim that, within days, she had suffered extensive bruising on her arms.

Ms Yarnold, from Dudley, was so concerned she left a dictaphone at her bedside, which she says picked up her mother's pleas for help.

It also recorded an incident where she had fallen out of bed.

Loraine and Robert Yarnold listened in horror to the messages after Mrs Yarnold's mother's death

'They told me she had fallen out of bed. But she couldn't move, she couldn't lift her arms up, she was immobile,' Ms Yarnold said. 

'I couldn't listen to the recordings fully for months. It broke my heart, especially when I could hear her crying out for help.'

The young woman also found her mother lying in her own urine, where she claims she had been left for eight hours

Ms Yarnold remained by her mother's bedside for her final three days and later lodged a complaint.

She also demanded a post-mortem examination to find out whether her mother had died from her cancer, or whether the care she received had played a part.

The family had to wait 17 months for an autopsy to confirm her cause of death, meaning Ms Fellows could not be laid to rest during that time.

The subsequent result was found to be 'inconclusive' due to the amount of time that had passed.

Ms Yarnold and her husband Robert met with the hospital's PALS team (Patient Advice and Liaison Service) on April 26 to discuss the outcome of the investigation.

In a statement Colin Ovington, Chief Nurse at Sandwell Hospital, apologised to Ms Yarnold, admitting the care her mother received was substandard.

'We would like to offer our deepest sympathy to Caroline's family and friends,' he said. 

'We have fully investigated the concerns raised by her family and where we found some areas where care fell below our high standards we have put plans in place to address them. 

'One area cited in the investigation was that Caroline's bed was in a bay which was not within the line of sight of the nursing desk.

'On occasions where we are caring for terminally ill patients we would usually locate these patients closest to the nursing station, and in Caroline's case this did not happen. We are very sorry for that.'

The mother and daughter are pictured together on Ms Yarnold's wedding day to her husband Robert 

The statement continued: 'The complaint into Caroline's care will be used as an example when we are training staff. I am confident we provide safe care on our wards.'

But Ms Yarnold said she was still not completely satisfied.

'I'm glad they've acknowledged that they did wrong. It has taken us nearly two years,' she said. 

'They did admit failings in the meeting, but I did not get all the answers I wanted.

'They said that they would use my mum's experience as a training curve. But I'm doubtful about how much is going to change on that ward.'

She added: 'Mum was wonderful, outgoing and full of life. She worked at the printing press, and also had a job at the bingo.

'Before she became ill she was independent and would go shopping on her own. That what makes it so hard.' 

Ms Yarnold has now won an apology from the hospital after claiming her mother (pictured left in hospital and right in her 40s) was 'neglected and forgotten' in the days before her death