Rosepark nursing home safety catches ‘removed’

Safety catches on fire doors in a Lanarkshire nursing home where 14 residents died in a blaze had been removed, an inquiry has been told.

The inquiry into the Rosepark Nursing Home fire heard the catches were removed after residents complained they were making doors too heavy to open.

The move was approved by local health board staff, it was claimed.

The fire broke out in a cupboard in the home on 31 January 2004, killing 14 people and injuring four more.

The closure devices were designed to keep doors shut and prevent fires spreading.

Matron Bridget Boyle, who was responsible for implementing the home’s fire safety policy, said the catches had been removed from several doors at the home at the behest of residents.
   
And she said some of the fire doors were regularly left open so staff could monitor the frailest patients.

She told the inquiry: “There were occasions when a resident wanted a door to be kept open for their safety – if they were very frail.

“Some of the residents couldn’t open the doors themselves. They would have to call for a nurse to get them out of their room – some people didn’t have the power to open the door themselves.”

The decision to disable the devices had been authorised by Thomas Balmer, one of Rosepark’s owners, Ms Boyle said.

She said Mr Balmer had consulted with staff from the local health board, who had approved the removal of a mechanism at the top of the door which activated the closure device.

Fresh indictment

“He said a gentleman had said it was safe to take it off because all the rooms had been fire-proofed,” Ms Balmer said.

The Fatal Accident Inquiry, at the Gospel Literature Outreach Centre in Motherwell, is trying to establish the full circumstances of the tragedy, prevent a similar fire from happening again and establish if any precautions could have been taken to avoid the deaths.

It is being heard before Sheriff Principal Brian Lockhart, and is expected to last between four and six months.

An attempt to prosecute the home’s owners, Thomas, Anne and Alan Balmer, over alleged safety breaches collapsed in 2007 after a judge dismissed the charges.

A fresh indictment was served in 2008 but those charges were also dropped.