Care company fined for resident's fatal fall at Buckfastleigh home

Date:

6 July 2012

A nursing home failed to ensure the safety of an elderly, blind, wheelchair-bound resident who died after falling down a flight of stairs.

Patrick Foale, 75, lived at the Redmount Nursing Home in Buckfastleigh, Devon, when the incident happened on 1 November 2010.

Mr Foale, who was diabetic, fell down the stairs in his wheelchair when he accessed a staircase after a fire door had been left open. He suffered serious face and head injuries and died the next day in Torbay Hospital.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) brought the prosecution against Your Health Ltd, the Derbyshire-based owners of the home after investigating the incident. It found the company had failed in its duty to provide a safe environment for him.

The court heard that Mr Foale, a resident since February 2001 and formerly of Totnes, spent much of his time in his own room on the first floor of the nursing home in Old Totnes Road.

He was capable of moving himself in his wheelchair and was able to move freely around the home, using the passenger lift to go outside for a cigarette at regular intervals throughout the day. However, the nursing home was aware Mr Foale had deteriorating eyesight and had been suffering periods of disorientation

Speaking after the hearing, HSE Inspector, Georgina Speake, said:

"Mr Foale was clearly a vulnerable resident. Your Health Ltd failed to carry out a suitable risk assessment for him, neglected to make provision for Mr Foale's deteriorating eyesight, which had been identified in his care plan notes, and did not act on his apparent disorientation.

The fire door to the stairwell was regularly left open, which should not have happened at all, and the obvious risk this posed to Mr Foale should have been identified.

This tragic incident could have been prevented and shows the vital importance of properly identifying and acting on foreseeable risks for elderly and disabled residents."

Your Health Ltd, of Holford Court, Hearthcote Road, Swadlincote, Derbyshire was found guilty of breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. The company was fined £110,000 and ordered to pay £26,226 in costs.

Further information on health and safety in the health and social care sector can be found on the HSE website at: http://www.hse.gov.uk/healthservices/arrangements.htm

Notes to editors

1. The Health and Safety Executive is Britain's national regulator for workplace health and safety. It aims to reduce work-related death, injury and ill health. It does so through research, information and advice; promoting training; new or revised regulations and codes of practice; and working with local authority partners by inspection, investigation and enforcement. www.hse.gov.uk
2. Section 3(1) of the Health and safety at work etc Act 1974 states: "It shall be the duty of every employer to conduct his undertaking in such a way as to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that persons not in his employment who may be affected thereby are not thereby exposed to risks to their health or safety."

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