A residential care home provider has been fined after one of their elderly residents choked to death on uncut meatballs; even though the care providers were explicitly instructed to cut up the food first.<\/p>\n
Resident Mrs Margaret Humphries was brought to the care home by her family along with written instructions that all food given to Mrs Humphries was to be cut up first. The family made sure to verbally instruct care providers to make sure they were aware that Mrs Humphries had a high risk of choking.<\/p>\n
Tragically, the instructions were not acted on.
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\nIn August 2014, Mrs Humphries was fed uncut meatballs that consequently lead to her death. Aldershot Road home was investigated by the Care Quality Commission and other authorities after a complaint was filed into the standard of care provided. During their investigation, inspectors found a complete disarray in handling of medication, safety procedures, and administrative records.<\/p>\n
Craysell Limited in London, who owns and operates the care home, pleaded guilty to breaching health and safety legislation. Craysell was given an \u00a380,000 fine and ordered to pay costs of \u00a319,631 for their failings.<\/p>\n
The Health and Safety Executive, Andrew Johnson, spoke out about the incident calling it “tragic” and a “completely avoidable tragedy”.<\/p>\n