Care worker training change urged after care home fall death

By The Press Association27th March 2015News EnglandCare Homes, Care Standards, Handling, Moving, News England, Training

The son of a 100-year-old great grandmother who died after falling out of a body sling that her two carers were not trained to use called on the Government and care homes to drive up standards of care for Britain’s ageing population.

John Ward, 65, whose mother May Ward died of multiple skull fractures and a brain haemorrhage after falling out of a sling her two carers were using to hoist her into bed at Meppershall Care Home in Bedfordshire, in August 2010, warned that “this is a situation that needs to be addressed”.

He was speaking after GA Projects Limited, the private company which ran the care home, and GA Projects’ director Mohammed Zarook, 74, pleaded guilty at Luton Crown Court to health and safety breaches with regard to Mrs Ward’s care.

Zarook was ordered to pay £250,000, including a £150,000 fine and £100,000 costs, while GA Projects, which is now on the brink of insolvency was ordered to pay £86,992.24 which includes a £50,000 fine.

Zarook, 74, stood quietly with his head lowered in the dock as Richard Foster, the Recorder of Luton, told him that the “significant culpability” in this case had been the lack of training of staff on the “complex” equipment which was used on the frail Mrs Ward while she was feeling unhappy and aggressive.

Of Mrs Ward, who was suffering from dementia, the judge said: “It is tragic indeed that she died in 2010 as result of an avoidable accident in a care home she had been entrusted to be cared for in her later life.”

Training seemed to be something that “ticked the box” rather than meeting necessary standards for vulnerable people, the judge noted.

The carers, originally from China and Bulgaria, were not strong English speakers and did not have did not have specific training on the complex equipment which needed to be used on Mrs Ward, the court heard.

The judge told Zarook: “There can be no excuses for high standards not being observed. The aggravating features of this case are these – obviously Mrs Ward’s death, the breaches were over a persistent period of time with no action to remedy them.”

He said there had also been “a persistent failure to take note of guidance” and all of this exposed “vulnerable patients to risk of serious injury or death”.

After sentencing, Mr Ward, of Stevenage, said: “He (Zarook) has got to pay a lot – £250,000 – which is the only relief that we take from it. It shows that care homes have to abide by the rules.

“It is some sort of justice for us and our mum. I hope she would be pleased now.”

Mrs Ward, a former London pub landlady and Royal Air Force cook, sustained multiple skull fractures, a broken right leg, a black eye, and other cuts and bruises. She was taken to Lister hospital in Stevenage but died the following day.

Mr Ward said: “It is a situation which needs to be addressed because people are living longer and neglect is major issue. It seems that you hear a lot about these incidents and it does not seem to improve. We need to bring decent staff, and staffing arrangements and management need to be looked at.”

GA Projects Ltd, which ran the care home, pleaded guilty to failing to discharge it is duty under the Health and Safety Act to ensure “as far as is reasonably practicable” that patients were not exposed to risk.

As a director of GA Projects Ltd Mohammed Zarook, 74, pleaded guilty through his “consent and connivance” or his “neglect” to failing to ensure the safety of vulnerable elderly patients under the Health and Safety Act 1974.

Concerns about moving and handling residents at the home had been raised as far back as 2009 by watchdog the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

The care home was given a zero, or “poor” rating, by the CQC in December 2009, which was uprated to a one-star rating in May 2010, around three months before Ms Ward died.

After a random inspection on September 6 2010, eight days after Ms Ward’s death, the CQC said the care home still fell short of standards.

David Travers, for Zarook, claimed that this was “not a reckless disregard but a careless neglect” on the part of Zarook who “never again will engage with a business associated with these services.”

Mr Travers said Zarook should have done more to ensure his staff were properly qualified and experienced and carrying out their duties properly.

Zarook had “little or no experience” of running a care home when he joined the industry, according to Mr Travers who noted that Zarook had even “thought that things were not only under control but improving” at the home.

Simon Morgan, for GA Projects Ltd, said the company had lost an estimated £460,000 as a result of the accident.

He claimed the company had not deliberately tried to breach the rules.

After the hearing HSE inspector Emma Page described Mrs Ward’s death as “a wholly preventable tragedy caused by unacceptable management failings” by GA Projects Ltd and Zarook of Harpenden, Hertfordshire.

Noting that “every year vulnerable people suffer injuries caused by poor moving and handling practice”, she said: “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.”