Care provider fined £25K after elderly woman is badly burnt on uncovered radiator

By Scott D'Arcy2nd February 2017News EnglandCare Homes, Care Quality Commission, Care Standards, Courts / Justice, London, News England

A care provider has been fined after an elderly woman suffered serious burns when she fell against an uncovered radiator in a residential home.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC), which brought the prosecution, said dementia sufferer Kathleen Walters, 79, needed skin grafts after falling against the radiator in her en-suite bedroom at the Manor House Residential Home, in Morden, south London, in November 2015.

Mrs Walters was found at 8.20am, having been last seen at 7.10am, and had a large burn to her back. Highbury Corner Magistrates’ Court, north London, was told that when staff asked her how long she had been there she “placed her hands far apart”.

She was taken to the burns unit at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, where she was assessed to have burns over 7% of her body.

The registered providers, Dudley and Helene Sessford, will have to pay £24,600 in fines and costs after pleading guilty to a charge of failing to provide safe care and treatment resulting in avoidable harm, the CQC said.

Jenny Ashworth, prosecuting, told the court that the provider had failed to adequately control the risk of serious injury and the accident was avoidable because evidence suggested covering the radiator would have prevented Mrs Walters being harmed.

Debbie Ivanova, CQC’s deputy chief inspector of adult social care, said: “This incident was entirely avoidable.

“The risk of people sustaining serious burns from uncovered radiators is something all care homes should be aware of.

“Mrs Walters was known to be at high risk of falling over. Yet the registered provider failed in its duty to ensure that care and treatment was provided in a safe way, and as a result Mrs Walters was seriously burned.

“When serious incidents occur, we now have additional powers to hold providers to account in the courts.

“In future if we find that a care provider has put people in its care at risk of harm, we will always consider using those powers to the full to prosecute those who are responsible.”