Walsall health trust fined over patient death

Date:

9 October 2012

Walsall Hospital NHS Trust has been ordered to pay almost £107,000 in fines and costs after a pensioner died following a fall from a first floor window at Walsall Manor Hospital.

Harry Riley, 71, from Walsall, sustained multiple injuries in the incident on 18 January 2009, Wolverhampton Crown Court heard today (9 October).

Mr Riley, who had been admitted to the hospital’s initial assessment unit suffering from a mini-stroke, disconnected himself from his drip during the night and climbed onto a stool and then a table to open a window.

He fell out of the window and died the following morning from his injuries, which included collapsed lungs, a fractured pelvis and rib fractures.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Walsall Hospital NHS Trust after an investigation found the hospital had failed to install a restrictor on the window to limit the opening of the upper sash to ten centimetres.

HSE found the trust had failed to carry out a proper risk assessment, despite a safety alert from the Department of Health to all hospitals in 2007 following a number of incidents involving patients falling from upper floor windows.

This alert recommended reviewing all window restrictors and assessing the potential risks of unrestricted windows. It also reminded hospitals that patients were vulnerable people and NHS organisations had a duty of care to protect them.

Walsall Hospitals NHS Trust, of Cavell Close, Town Wharf, Walsall, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 3(1)(b) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 in relation to the incident. The trust was fined £80,000 and ordered to pay £26,917 in costs.

After the hearing HSE inspector Eve-Marie Edwards said:

"It is a tragedy for Mr Riley and his family that Walsall Hospitals NHS Trust failed in its duty of care towards him in this entirely avoidable incident.

"The trust should have known about the risk to patients of falling from windows. However, despite clear guidance, it failed carry out an effective risk assessment.

 "Hospitals must ensure that they have properly assessed the risk to patients of falls from accessible windows that can be opened more than ten centimetres.

"It is essential that all such windows on assessment wards are properly restricted due to the range of patients admitted, some of whom may be very vulnerable."

HSE guidance on preventing falls from windows is available at http://www.hse.gov.uk/healthservices/falls-windows.htm

Notes to editors

1. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is Britain's national regulator for workplace health and safety. It aims to reduce 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.
2. Regulation 3(1)(b) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 states: "Every employer shall make a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks to the health and safety of persons not in his employment arising out of or in connection with the conduct by him of his undertaking."
3. Visit http://www.hse.gov.uk/press/press.htm for further HSE press notices.

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