A RETIRED secretary died after falling down the stairs of her Herefordshire home.

An inquest this week heard that paramedics were called when 74-year-old Ione Elsie Sell was found lying unresponsive at the bottom of the stairs at her home in Ewyas Harold by her daughter Katie Powell on November 4, 2018.

Due to the severity of her injuries, Mrs Sell was taken by ambulance from her home to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, where she was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit.

A CT scan showed that, among other injuries, she had suffered a severe traumatic brain injury in the fall, and it was decided that aggressive treatment should not be continued due to her poor prognosis and other underlying conditions.

She died at the hospital on November 5.

In a statement, her daughter said that Mrs Sell had been living with several conditions including sarcoidosis, arthritis and type 2 diabetes for several years and that she suffered from reduced mobility, breathlessness and frequent falls as a result.

Mrs Sell, who was born in the Falkland Isles but had lived in Herefordshire since 1986, lived independently in her home with the support of her family, who visited her daily.

Despite a recent decline in her health, she had refused to wear an alarm pendant or to accept other mobility and safety aids or adaptations to her rented home but had agreed to let her family search for a warden controlled flat.

The Hereford inquest heard that it was unclear as to when Mrs Sell had fallen, but that she had been visited by her daughter the previous evening.

Coroner Mark Bricknell concluded that Mrs Sell's death was a result of a severe traumatic brain injury sustained in falling down the stairs and recorded a verdict of accidental death.