Trust fined £300k after five die in hospital falls

AN NHS trust has been fined more than £300,000 after five elderly patients died following falls in hospital.

The judge in the case said that had it been a private company the fine would have been at least £1million.

Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust admitted failing to ensure the safety of the five elderly people following a prosecution by the Health and Safety Executive.

At Stafford Crown Court Mr Justice Charles Haddon-Cave fined the trust £333,333 and ordered the authority to pay costs of £130,000 to the HSE.

He said no financial penalty could adequately equal the loss of life. But he added: ‘This prosecution affords a measure of justice.’ The court heard that failings at the trust included inadequate assessments of patients and poor sharing of information by staff. There was also poor record-keeping and a failure to provide one-to-one care for the most vulnerable patients.

The five died after falls at Telford’s Princess Royal Hospital and Royal Shrewsbury Hospital in 2011 and 2012.

The falls contributed to the death of at least four of the patients – Mohan Singh, 74, Eileen Thomson, 81, Edna Evans, 92, and Ada Clarke, 91. In the case of Gerald Morris, 72, it could not be proven that the fall directly contributed to his death.

The judge said he had taken into consideration that the trust had taken steps to make improvements and had a deficit.