Care home company fined £400,000 for bedrail failures
Health and Safety Executive v BUPA Care Homes (CFC Homes) Ltd, Carlisle Crown Court, May 26
BUPA Care Homes (CFC Homes) Ltd has been fined over the inappropriate management of bedrails at one of its care homes.
Following an earlier guilty plea in Carlisle Magistrates’ Court the case was referred to Carlisle Crown Court for sentencing.
Significant points of the case
At the Beacon Edge Specialist Nursing Home in Penrith, Cumbria, BUPA Care Homes (CFC Homes) Ltd failed to ensure that it managed the risk of bedrails through appropriate assessment and review of bedrail arrangements, and failed to train staff in the assessment of and safe use of bedrails.
The use of bedrails is common in care homes to help prevent vulnerable residents from falling from bed, but they should to be used appropriately, and staff must be trained in both their use and the process of assessment to identify suitable measures to protect individual patients from falls.
The court was told the company had a policy on bedrail management but it was not fully implemented as staff were not trained and assessments not conducted or reviewed when required.
The case related to the management of bedrails in relation to a vulnerable resident who died at the home. The company failed to ensure the patient’s bedrail assessment was suitable and sufficient, reviewed following falls and deterioration in health and that staff were trained in bedrail risk assessment.
The reviews of the bedrail assessment should have identified further measures to prevent the risk of falls, but staff that carried out the initial assessment and reviews were not adequately trained. Furthermore, measures identified to protect the resident where not implemented correctly and increased checks on the resident were not carried out as instructed by a medical professional.
BUPA Care Homes (CFC Homes) Ltd admitted breaching Section 3 (1) HSW Act 1974 and regulation 9 of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (PUWER). The company was fined £400,000 plus £15,206 costs.
An HSE Inspector is reported to have made the following comments after the case:
The need for adequate risk assessment and management of third party bedrails has been recognised in the healthcare sector for a number of years and guidance and advice has been published by the relevant bodies to this effect.
Bedrails are used to protect vulnerable people from falling out of bed but each patient should be assessed individually and appropriate measures taken to protect them from falls from bed. Staff working with bedrails must be appropriately trained in the use of bedrails and in the patient assessment process.
In this case there was a lack of appropriate assessment of the residents’ changing needs and review of the control measures in place to protect her. The measures that were in place were not used correctly in that the sensor pad which would have alerted staff to the resident’s being out of bed was not switched on.