Healthcare firm and director to pay £335,000+ after care home resident death

A healthcare firm and its director have been ordered to pay more than £335,000 in fines and costs after the death of a 100 year-old care home resident.

Mary Ward died on 28 August 2010, the day after she sustained injuries in a fall from a hoist at a former Bedfordshire care home. The incident happened when she was being moved by carers between a chair and a bed at Meppershall Care Home, which was owned by GA Projects.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive established that her death could have been prevented had a better system for handling and moving residents, supported by appropriate staff training, been in place.

The HSE found that:

• The two carers had been employed by GA Projects for less than a year at the time of the incident;
• The sling used to move Mrs Ward was very complicated to fit correctly and the carers were given no training in how to safely use the sling;
• The sling was not the one recommended by Central Bedfordshire Council as being suitable for Mrs Ward’s medical conditions.
• Mrs Ward was therefore not securely positioned within the sling and when she moved herself forwards, she fell out, hitting the floor.

Luton Crown Court was told that there had been a history of serious safety breaches at Meppershall.

The HSE had served five Improvement Notices between October and December 2010 relating to deficiencies in resident handling, risk assessment, other risks to residents and a lack of competent health and safety advice.

The inspectors uncovered evidence that this was not the first of this type of incident at the home, with another resident fracturing a tibia and fibula after falling whilst being moved from her wheelchair to her armchair in September 2009. However, this incident had not been reported to the HSE and was only discovered when HSE inspectors visited the home after Mrs Ward’s fatal fall.

According to the HSE, Mohammed Zarook – director of GA Projects – had no knowledge or experience of running care homes. There was also no evidence that he had taken steps to fulfil his health and safety obligations through the provision of training, and the management of the risks most commonly associated with the care industry, including resident handling.

Care Quality Commission inspections at the home on several occasions prior to Mrs Ward’s death had resulted in ‘poor’ or ‘adequate’ ratings. Meppershall Care Home was closed in July 2013 following concerns raised by CQC during a further inspection.

At Luton Crown Court GA Projects Ltd, of Crompton Road, Stevenage, Hertfordshire, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. The company was fined £50,000 and ordered to pay costs of £36,992.24.

Mohammed Zarook, of Sauncey Wood, Harpenden, Hertfordshire, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 37 of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. He was fined £150,000 and ordered to pay costs of £100,000.

HSE Inspector Emma Page, said: “Mrs Ward’s death was a wholly preventable tragedy caused by unacceptable management failings on the part of GA Projects Ltd and Mr Zarook. They put vulnerable residents at the care home at unnecessary risk.

“Working in a care home is a specialised job, which involves dealing with vulnerable people. Care homes must ensure that they have the correct training in place for all their employees, and that they work to adequately assess and mitigate all possible risks, so far as is reasonably practicable.”

Page added: “Moving and handling is a particularly important issue in the healthcare sector and every year vulnerable people suffer injuries caused by poor moving and handling practice.”