A HOLCOMBE Brook woman died at Bury General Hospital one day after having surgery for a gastric ulcer, an inquest was told.

Miss Eileen Robinson, aged 79, of Dawes Bank, Holcombe Old Road, had been admitted to hospital as a result of general debilitation. Bury District Coroner Mr Barrie Williams recorded a "misadventure" verdict into the death of Blackburn-born Miss Robinson who was described as a frail lady.

Mr Williams said her death was a result of the aftermath of essential surgery. He said Miss Robinson died because her body could not withstand the operative treatment. He told her family: "She would have died unless the surgery was undertaken, and the doctors were trying to do their best." There can be no criticism of the surgery, which was correctly performed, even if it failed to prevent the persistent gastric bleeding."

Miss Robinson had served with the Royal Artillery during the Second World War, and had lived in Wiltshire and then at Holcombe Brook, where she had been a full time carer for her widowed mother until she died in 1983. She continued to live at Dawes Bank with her sister Jean, a nurse, and had enjoyed good health until recent years.