A hospital trust has been hit with a £50,000 fine after an
89-year-old man died two weeks after a fall from a bed, which only
had one rail.
Hospital staff did not ensure there were two rails in place to
prevent pensioner Francies Steele, of Lower Netchwood, Dilton
Priors, near Bridgnorth, from falling out. He fell from his bed at
Telford's Princess Royal Hospital on November 21.
After admitting health and safety breaches which led to the
incident, Shrewsbury & Telford Hospital NHS Trust was fined
£50,000.
A probe by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that the
Trust 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 were unable to look for another rail later in the shift
as the ward was grossly understaffed.
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.