A CARE home resident choked to death on someone else's dinner, a coroner's court has heard.

Phyllis Hill, 89, who lived at Woodland House nursing home, Middle Warberry Road, Torquay was on a soft food diet but the desire for solid food 'became too much of a temptation', South Devon coroner Ian Arrow heard yesterday.

Phyllis Hill, a widowed shop assistant, was fed pureed food because of swallowing difficulties but was known to steal other people's food the inquest was told.

She was being fed by a care assistant in the dining room when she grabbed fish fingers and peas from another resident who was pushing the meal around the plate.

Care assistant Carol Jerred told the inquest in a statement: "The lady next to her pushed the plate away and as Phyllis liked her food she probably thought that if she doesn't want it then I will have it. She knew what she wanted."

Clinical manager Kezia Malungo told the Torquay inquest that she administered first aid until paramedics arrived.

They managed to get a pulse and tried to remove the lodged fish finger and peas with forceps.

Resuscitation attempts continued at Torbay Hospital.

In a statement, care assistant Deborah Farrell said that Mrs Hill was prone to choking and had recently been fed by staff.

"We always knew that Phyllis would try and grab some food from other residents.

"We tried our best to stop it happening but with Phyllis being so mobile that was not so easy."

In a report, Mrs Hill's GP Dr Andrew Tucker said that a number of feeding options for the patient had been discussed.

He said that the patient was prone to choking and the nursing home staff had always acted quickly to help.

The coroner said that the cause of death was choking.

"Phyllis choked on food that she should not have had when she was on a diet of pureed food," said Mr Arrow.

"She took fish fingers and peas from another resident's plate and she choked on those peas."

The coroner recorded an accidental death.