The distraught family of a 97-year-old woman are demanding answers about a failure in her care that they blame for her death.

Mabel Kelly died in hospital weeks after being left unattended for two and a half hours by carers following a fall in her sheltered accommodation.

She died in St Helier Hospital on her birthday in 2010 from hospital acquired pneumonia and osteoporosis.

Mrs Kelly was in hospital on July 27 after falling in her home in Clarence Road, Sutton, 17 days previously.

Immediately after a fall in the middle of the night Mrs Kelly rang a Safecall alarm attached to her wrist to flag up she needed help.

Guidelines state a qualified carer working for Sutton Housing Partnership (SHP) - that manages housing for Sutton Council - should have arrived at the property within 20 minutes.

But a carer - known as a mobile responder - did not arrive for two-and-a-half hours.

Investigations have shown carers dispatched to the scene went to the wrong address. But the family still want to know why it took so long to reach her when she had rung the alarm so many times.

The family believe the distress caused by her being left alone for so long caused another fall later that day where she was hospitalised, and the stress brought on the conditions that kept her in hospital and eventually caused her death.

They are still demanding answers three years on as to why it took so long for her to be reached and why no one has been held to account for what happened.

Problems at the service had been flagged up by a whistleblower working within the council a month before Mrs Kelly's fall.

The whistleblower wrote to the SHP chief executive outlining a string of serious concerns about the service, including response times and the management of the response teams.

It read: "I do feel like it is only a matter of time before something serious happens due to the lack of duty of care."

The same whistleblower has said she resigned months after the incident after she received a number of disciplinaries she blames on her whistleblowing.

A SHP spokesperson said a full investigation had been made into the whistleblowing allegations and they were found to be groundless.

But the family believe it shows warning signs about the service had been raised before Mrs Kelly's fall. The council and SHP said they had carried out reviews and made changes to the service as a result of what happened to Mrs Kelly, but the family say they have not gone far enough.They also want to know someone has been held responsible for what happened.

She said: "The undignified way my mother died in the end after being kept on the floor for two and half hours is unforgivable. Someone needs to be held responsible for everything that went wrong that night."

Her husband, Graham Foster, said: "We have been met with a wall of silence about what happened that night. The council and SHP horribly failed in their duty of care, and not only have they not been brought to book for what happened."

The couple took the case to Sutton and Cheam MP and former care minister Paul Burstow, who they say has done little to help them and had not spoken to them since November.

Mr Burstow said: "I intend to speak with the family again to establish what further action they are seeking.

"The case is a very sad one and I have been working with the family to make sure lessons were learned. Investigations have occurred, changes made and apologies offered. But none of this can make up for the loss of a loved one."

A council spokesperson said: "There were extensive investigations following the death of Mabel Kelly, including a report commissioned from an external expert in this field. This was then reported to and discussed at the Sutton Safeguarding Adults Board. There were additionally a range of responses to a number of complaints from family members and enquiries from MPs regarding various aspects of what had happened.

"We sympathise with Mrs Kelly’s family in terms of their loss. Some changes in processes were made following the investigations, but no further investigation was deemed to be required. Mrs Kelly’s family was informed that they could contact the Local Government Ombudsman if they wished."

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