Pensioner Francis Steele, of Lower Netchwood, Dilton Priors, near Bridgnorth, died two weeks after falling from his bed
at Telford's Princess Royal Hospital on 21 November 2007 Telford
Hospital NHS Trust was today fined £50,000 after admitting to health and
safety
breaches which led to the incident.
The Health and Safety
Executive (HSE) prosecuted the Trust after an investigation found the hospital
had failed to provide Mr Steele with a bed rail that would have prevented the
fall.
Shrewsbury Crown Court heard
how a senior nurse decided that Mr Steele, described as very frail, needed bed
rails but staff could only find one. Nobody made any further attempts to find
another rail and the following day the elderly man was fatally injured when he
fell from the open side of the bed.
The court was told that
hospital staff did not know where to find the rails as there was no system of
storage and heard evidence that staff did not look for another rail later in
the shift.
Shrewsbury & Telford
Hospital NHS Trust, of Mytton Oak Road, Shrewsbury, pleaded guilty to breaching
Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. In addition to the
fine it was ordered to pay £8,476 costs.
;HSE investigating inspector Mr
Lindsay Hope said:"
Shrewsbury & Telford
Hospital NHS Trust's failure to provide a bed rail for a frail, vulnerable
patient who urgently needed it is unacceptable.
The failure was
compounded by chronic staff shortages. Just a few weeks before this incident,
one nurse was so concerned by staffing levels in the ward she had written to
the trust board, but no action was taken.
The trust's own policy
was not to trigger any action on staff shortages until the levels became 'high
risk'. As a result, the trust was typically working at high risk or very high
risk.
It is a tragedy for Mr
Steele and his family that Shrewsbury & Telford Hospital NHS Trust failed
in its duty of care towards him."
Notes to Editors
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is Britain's national regulator
for workplace health and safety. It aims to reduce death, injury and ill
health. It does so through research, information and advice, promoting
training, new or revised regulations and codes of practice, and working with
local authority partners by inspection, investigation and enforcement.
Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 states:
"It shall be the duty of every employer to conduct his undertaking in such
a way as to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that persons not in
his employment who may be affected thereby are not thereby exposed to risks to
their health or safety."
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