Sep 11 2007
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has reminded NHS Trust hospitals of their responsibility to ensure the health and safety of patients especially from the dangers of falling from windows.
The warning comes after the Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Trust were fined a total of £14,000 and ordered to pay costs of £3,982 at South Cheshire Magistrates Court, following a HSE prosecution. The charges relate to the case of a 30 year old male patient with mental health problems who was seriously injured when he managed to get out of a first floor ward window at Leighton Hospital, Middlewich Road, Crewe on the 4 August 2005. The Trust was fined £12,000 for a breach of Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act and £2,000 for a breach of Regulation 3 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations
Health and Safety Executive Division director for the North West, David Ashton said:
"The injuries to the patient were entirely avoidable. There are sensible and simple steps that the Trust should have taken to prevent this accident from happening which have been available for many years.
“It is particularly regrettable that the Trust had not responded to a previous similar accident at the same hospital, nor to specific NHS information on this topic. Many patients in hospital are vulnerable and NHS Trusts need to take action to protect them.
“HSE has recently successfully prosecuted another NHS Trust in the North West following separate incidents where two patients fell from hospital windows. Tragically one of these led to the patient's death. Therefore I urge all NHS Trusts, including those in the North West, to ensure relevant lessons are learned and take any necessary action now to prevent further falls from hospital windows."
The prosecution against Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Trust arose after the patient suffered serious injuries in the fall. Investigations revealed that the restrictor on the window had been defeated and that there had been a widespread failure over a number of years by the Trust to manage the risk of falls from windows. A similar incident had happened on the same ward in December 2002.
The HSE is working closely with NHS Hospital trusts to try and reduce the number of accidents where patients have been killed or seriously injured. Between 2002 and 2005 there were at least seven fatal accidents and 30 major injury incidents across the country caused by falls from windows.