South London care provider fined after resident seriously burned

The CQC prosecuted and fined Manor House Residential Home, in Morden, yesterday after a 79-year-old woman was severely burned on an uncovered radiator.

The care provider was deemed to have failed in its duty to provide safe care and treatment to resident Mrs Kathleen Walters, who had dementia and speech difficulties, and was ordered by Highbury Magistrates’ Court to pay £24,600 in fines and costs.

The court was told that the resident fell and sustained serious burn injuries following prolonged contact with an uncovered radiator in her en-suite bedroom in November 2015.

Mrs Walters was found on the floor at around 8.20am, having last been seen at 7.10am, with a large burn to her back and with skin visible on the uncovered radiator. 

When she was asked how long she had been there by staff she ‘placed her hands far apart’.

She was admitted to the Burn’s Unit of Chelsea and Westminster hospital and later received skin grafts, with the burns she suffered assessed as covering 7% of total body surface area involving the back and flank. 

Jenny Ashworth, prosecuting, told the court the accident was avoidable and that the provider had failed to adequately control the risk of serious injury.

She said there was clear evidence, given the nature of the burns, that had the radiator been covered Mrs Walters would not have been harmed. In addition the absence of a pressure sensor mat meant staff were not immediately alerted that she had got out of bed.

Debbie Ivanova, CQC’s Deputy Chief Inspector of Adult Social Care, said: “This incident was entirely avoidable. The risk of people sustaining serious burns from uncovered radiators is something all care homes should be aware of. Mrs Walters was known to be at high risk of falling over. Yet the registered provider failed in its duty to ensure that care and treatment was provided in a safe way, and as a result Mrs Walters was seriously burned.

"When serious incidents occur, we now have additional powers to hold providers to account in the courts. In future if we find that a care provider has put people in its care at risk of harm, we will always consider using those powers to the full to prosecute those who are responsible."