Wodonga's Alan Adams submitted his grievance in February, relating how his friend James (Jim) Ryan died a few days earlier in Albury hospital where he was taken following a second fall.

Mr Adams, who regularly helped Mr Ryan, said the nearly 90-year-old lived alone and sustained a shoulder fracture in the initial fall on February 13 but was not admitted to hospital.

“This was a death sentence,” Mr Adams wrote in his complaint.

“I said to (them), ‘If you send him home, he’s going to have a fall and he will die’, and that’s exactly what happened,” he later told The Border Mail. 

“The decision to let Jim go home, with his carer there telling them all the reasons why they shouldn’t send him home was contrary to proper medical practice and common sense.”

An Albury Wodonga Health spokeswoman said the service did not discuss individual cases.

Albury Wodonga Health also declined to comment generally on how decisions were made on patient admissions.

In a series of emails since February, seen by The Border Mail, Mr Adams has urged Albury Wodonga Health to provide a full response to his concerns and more information relating to Mr Ryan's death.

An April letter to Mr Adams from Albury Wodonga Health chief executive Leigh McJames said the care received by Mr Ryan had been reviewed by senior hospital staff.

“The results of these reviews have been addressed by the organisation,” Mr McJames wrote.

The letter said Albury Wodonga Health would not disclose Mr Ryan’s health information because Mr Adams was not the patient’s next of kin or the executor of his estate.

“I understand that you had concerns at the time regarding the discharge of Mr Ryan and we apologise that you feel your concerns were not heeded,” Mr McJames wrote.