Family 'upset and disappointed' by fine for Midlothian care home after grandmother's death
Sheila Whitehead died in 2017
Last updated 5th Nov 2019
A family have expressed their shock and disappointment at the fine given to a charity, following the death of an 87-year-old grandmother at their Midlothian care home.
Nazareth Care Charitable Trust admitted not doing enough to prevent Sheila Whitehead, who fell down stairs at the residence in Bonnyrigg.
The organisation has been fined £40,000.
Mrs Whitehead died after falling down stairs at the facility on May 16 2017. She had poor eyesight and managed to stumble past a rope which was supposed to hold residents back.
However, investigators found the rope wasn’t strong enough to bear any great weight.
Edinburgh Sheriff Court heard on how workers at the home found her lying in a “foetal” position with blood pouring out of her head.
Staff members phoned for an ambulance but Mrs Whitehead, who had stayed at the home for four years, later died from her injuries in hospital.
Health and Safety Executive Investigators launched an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the pensioner’s death.
They concluded that bosses at the charity should have had physical barriers at the top of the staircase to prevent residents from using it.
Bosses at the trust responsible for the Nazareth House property were later charged with breaching health and safety laws. It pleaded guilty to breaching sections three and 33 of the 1974 Health and Safety at Work Act at a hearing last month.
On Tuesday, Sheriff Thomas Welsh QC said the law entitled him to impose a maximum fine of £2.5 million.
However, he said he decided to impose the £40,000 fine because of the charity’s decision to plead guilty at the earliest opportunity. Sheriff Welsh also said he had decided to impose the sum because the charity had also carried out extensive health and safety training for its staff.
The sheriff also said that he decided on the sum because he had listened to defence advocate Susan Duff’s submission that the organisation was a charity and not a company dedicated to making profits.
Passing sentence, Sheriff Welsh said the charity could pay the sum over four years.
He added: “In response to this awful tragedy, the charity sent 24 managers and members of regional support teams on an Institute of Occupational Safety and Health Managing Safely Course in 2017. A further 12 managers will have been trained by the end of this year.
“Further immediate steps were taken to install locked doors with keypads at staircases across all Nazareth Care premises.
“These factors clearly demonstrate a very responsible attitude taken by those controlling the charity to address what happened and ensure it never occurs again. I also fully accept that the charity and those who work within are genuinely remorseful for what has happened on their watch.
“I entirely accept the submission made by Mrs Duff that any money taken from the charity to pay a fine is money which would otherwise by spent on vulnerable and needy residents as opposed to potentially made available as profit for shareholder dividends.
“Every offender is entitled to a discount for the utilitarian value an agreed early plea of guilty produces to the administration of justice.
“In this case, a potentially lengthy and distressing trial has been avoided by the offender admitting guilt and pleading guilty.
“Accordingly, I will reduce the fine to £40,000.”
Defence advocate Susan Duff told the court that the charity was offering its apology to Mrs Whitehead’s family.
The lawyer for Mrs Whitehead’s family, Natalie Donald from Thompsons Solicitors, said: “I have been in touch with family members and they want to make it clear how upset and disappointed they are at the level of fine imposed.
"They cannot understand why such a low value has been put on the life of their very much loved mother and grandmother.
"They are also at a loss as to why a lower fine was imposed due to Nazareth Care Home being a charity.
"Why should a charity should be held to a different standard from anyone else operating a care home? The view of both myself and the family is that too many elderly people suffer serious injury in care home accidents.
"This low level fine sends completely the wrong message to those responsible for the care of Scotland’s elderly population.”
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