Care home provider fined £80,000 after 87-year-old suffered 'avoidable harm'

A care provider in Essex has been told to pay £80,000 after it failed to give safe care and treatment to an 87-year-old who suffered avoidable harm and later died of urinary sepsis.

Lanemile Limited, which runs Haven Lodge, Clacton-on-Sea, was fined £80,000 at Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court. It was also told to pay a £170 victim surcharge.

Lanemile had already pleaded guilty to failing to provide safe care and treatment and this criminal offence was prosecuted by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), which was awarded its £17,000 costs.

Mary Cridge, CQC deputy chief inspector for adult social care, said: “This is a distressing case and I welcome Lanemile’s guilty plea.

“Sylvia Macknay had every right to expect safe care at Haven Lodge, but Lanemile failed in its specific legal duty to protect her from avoidable harm.

“The majority of care providers do an excellent job. However, when a provider puts people in its care at risk, we take action to hold it to account and protect people.”

Sylvia Macknay had a stroke at her home in June 2016. After eleven weeks in hospital where she was catheterised, she was discharged to Haven Lodge care home but was still reliant on her catheter. On 3 September, a fortnight after being at the home, her daughter visited and found her mother semi-conscious in bed, in considerable distress and calling for help.

She alerted staff who found Mrs Macknay’s catheter was blocked. Mrs Macknay was taken to Colchester General Hospital where she died the same day. Urinary sepsis associated with the catheter was given as the cause of her death.

A CQC investigation found serious failings in Lanemile’s care of Mrs Macknay, including a lack of appropriate assessment before it admitted her to Haven Lodge.

The CQC found there were gaps in staff training and poor communication. Its care workers were not trained in catheter care so were unable to flag up problems to nurses before they worsened.

Lanemile had also failed to put in place a procedure to monitor how much fluid Mrs Macknay received through a feeding tube, or whether this corresponded with urine collected in her catheter bag.

Mrs Macknay’s safety was further put at risk because the home’s plan for her care lacked detail and accuracy. Records referred to her by the wrong name and stated she should be encouraged to drink over a litre a day, when she was nil-by-mouth.

Haven Lodge is currently rated good.