Suicide victim Frederick Burrows' life could have been saved, former geriatric home workers claimed yesterday.

The ex-Lefroy House employees, who declined to be named, made the allegation after reading about Mr. Burrows' inquest in The Royal Gazette .

"I was disturbed about what I read after the inquest and the information given by witnesses during it,'' said one of the men.

"I worked very closely with Mr. Burrows and what they are saying is hogwash.

They're pulling the wool over everybody's eyes.'' He claimed that if nursing home staff had acted on information they had in their possession then Mr. Burrows would still be alive.

The other man blamed a lack of proper training as the cause for Mr. Burrows' passing.

Mr. Burrows, 60, was found hanging from a noose connected to an upstairs balcony at the nursing home on January 11 of last year.

Coroner Arthur Hodgson ruled that Mr. Burrows took his own life after hearing evidence from pathologist Dr. James Johnston and Lefroy House staff Merle Sheen and Geneviene Masters.

The man said the pair should never have been called in to give testimony because they had not spent any time with Mr. Burrows.

Inquiries to Lefroy House were directed to Chief Medical Officer John Cann, who could not be reached for comment.

Mr. Burrows arrived at Lefroy House after suffering a series of strokes and being hospitalised. At Lefroy House he went through a series of "depressed situations'', said the man.

"He felt people did not want him around. It was really getting to him and it really made a marked change to his life.'' Mr. Burrows was well known through Somerset as a cheerful, upbeat person. It was only when he arrived at Lefroy that he started to deteriorate, said the man.

"People who knew him were baffled when he was described as anti-social in the inquest. He was not anti-social.'' Depression got so bad for Mr. Burrows that he had to be hospitalised at St.

Brendan's.

It was when he returned from the psychiatric institution that he gave a clear indication of his plans.

The man revealed: "He told his sister who used to visit him not to bother anymore. His whole demeanour changed. He felt his family had dumped out on him.'' This disturbed Mr. Burrows' sister and she passed on her concerns to nursing home staff.

"They did not act on it,'' the man said. "If they had jumped on it and watched him 24-seven, Fred Burrows would still be here today.'' Once the incident transpired, he continued, the administration tried to hush things up and told staff not to speak to the Press.

"I am speaking out now because I am no longer with Government,'' he explained.

The other man said the incident highlighted bigger problems at Lefroy House.

"The staff are not equipped to deal with psycho-geriatric patients there,'' he said.

"This concern has been voiced before. St. Brendan's is the only facility equipped to deal with people like this.

"If the staff had been trained to deal with this type of patient then they would have possibly known the signs they needed to look out for.''