OAP death: Care home fined £66k
Feb 7 2009
A BIRMINGHAM care home was fined £66,000 after an elderly resident died following a fall in which she fractured her pelvis.
Ivy House care home, in Ivy House Road, West Heath, was also ordered to pay more than £22,000 costs after a hearing at Birmingham Crown Court. Its owners, Four Seasons Number 4 Ltd, had previously admitted serious failures under the Health and Safety at Work Act over the death of pensioner Mrs Winifred Gibson.
Mrs Gibson, aged 85, had been at the home since 2004 after a stroke left her paralysed on the left side of her body.
The court heard from the family’s lawyer, Mr Bernard Thorogood, that prior to her death, Mrs Gibson needed help with her mobility and could not stand or sit without support.
On March 8 last year, a care worker was moving Mrs Gibson from her bed to a commode, with the aid of a Stand Aid Hoist.
At one point she was left unsupported on the bed and fell, landing on a small table, suffering a fractured pelvis and many bruises, he said.
She later died in Selly Oak Hospital and a report concluded the fall was a significant factor in her death.
In a three-year period, from April 2004 to April 2007, HSE and local authorities received reports of around 92 incidents involving falls to patients or service-users, in the health and social care sector, where a hoist or sling was involved.
Abridged
SOURCE: The Birmingham Mail
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