Care home fined £1.5m after
dementia sufferer died falling downstairs
A care home has been fined
£1.5 million after admitting a serious health and safety breach following the
death of a dementia sufferer. George Chicken, 76, died after he fell down an
unlit staircase at Rose Court Lodge Care Home in Sutton Road, Mansfield.
Afterwards, his devastated family said they would like to see the re-evaluation
of all care homes who advertise themselves as delivering dementia care.
Owner of the home, Embrace All
Ltd, formerly European Care (GB), was given the hefty fine on Thursday afternoon
- and ordered to pay costs of £200,000. The company, represented by barrister
John Cooper QC, had pleaded guilty to failing to ensure the safety of
non-employees.
Home manager Amanda Dean, 50,
of Devonshire Street, Ambergate, Belper, admitted failing to take reasonable
care for the health and safety of others. She was given nine months in prison,
suspended for two years, and ordered to pay costs of £20,000.
Nottingham Crown Court had
heard the home was responsible for the care of Mr Chicken, who was found at the
bottom of the concrete staircase and taken to hospital where he passed away 48
hours later. Judge Stuart Rafferty QC said, as he sentenced Dean: "She couldn't
keep a daily eye on residents as she should have, or ensure her staff were
doing so either." The allegations were brought against Dean and the
managing company after Mr Chicken fell down the stairway at the other side of a
fire door at the home on November 4, 2012. The judge stressed that he was not
sentencing them for the death of Mr Chicken or the fact of his death, but
"rather the circumstances that gave rise to the possibility for that
event".
Prosecutor Bernard Thorogood
QC opened the case to a jury last month. The jury was discharged after the
defendants decided to plead guilty after legal discussions. The court had been
told how Mr Chicken got out of bed, walked alone along two long corridors,
before going through a fire exit door, setting off an alarm, and stepping off
into the darkness. Had Mr Chicken, who was not wearing his glasses, reached out
for a handrail he would not have found one to the concrete stairs, the court
heard. Staff heard the alarm call to the fire door and went to investigate.
Mr Thorogood, representing
Mansfield District Council, had said: "They couldn't see anything it was
so dark. It was bereft of any light. They could hear groaning. The prosecutor
had also highlighted it was obviously unsafe to have a set of concrete stairs
accessible to residents, which was not locked off - "just push the bar and
through they go". "Especially a stairwell with no handrail," he
said. "It was not and had not been, for sometime, illuminated. If it was
illuminated, with two handrails and soft carpeting, you may think the risks of
somebody tumbling down were obvious, in fact. Other staircases were in a less
stark condition but still they represented, from that first floor, real
risks." After the incident, the home made improvements, including daily
documented checks of stairway lighting, extra members of staff put in
corridors, keypad controls fitted at fire doors, and reviewable procedures by
the company to check it all worked together and all linked up.
Dean had a certificate in
health and safety and was trained additionally by the multi-million pound
company in relation to dementia and care planning, the court heard. Paul
Wakerley, for Dean, said on her behalf she had spent her life putting the needs
of others before her own and had an "unblemished record". He
described the mother-of-six, a trained nurse who rose to the position of
operations manager in 2005, as being "truly sorry". After the
hearing, a statement from the family read: "For our family, nothing will
make us feel we've had justice. We still have to live every day with the pain
of his horrific death. We express our gratitude to Mansfield District Council
and their legal team. Without them, this case would not have seen the inside of
a courtroom or brought to the attention of the public. We would like to see the
reevaluation of all care homes who advertise themselves as delivering dementia
care. They need to meet the criteria of not only having the understanding of
the complexities of dementia but their health and safety measures re-assessed
to ensure the safeguarding of their vulnerable residents. If my dad's death
proves anything, they can no longer assume that accidents such as his may never
happen. In my opinion all scenarios, no matter how small the risk, should be
addressed and dealt with immediately. A death should not be the reason to
rectify a problem."
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