NHS and private contractor admit failings in death of disabled girl
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Version 0 of 1. A mother who repeatedly told health professionals that her severely disabled daughter’s hospital bed was faulty, found her dead after she fell out and suffocated on plastic sheeting, a court has been told. Jade Norton, 10, who could not walk or talk, became trapped between the mattress and the vinyl sheeting after a side rail gave way when she suffered an epileptic seizure at her home in Blackpool, Lancashire in June 2011, the court heard. Norton, who had been diagnosed with Rett syndrome, a rare disorder, had been prescribed the the BaKare Klearside bed to stop her from rolling out. Despite her parents reporting that the bed rail was broken on five occasions from March 2011, no remedial action was taken, the court heard. Preston crown court was told that there had been multiple failings from the Blackpool Primary Healthcare trust, North Lancashire Primary Care trust and the company hired to give care to Norton, Advantage Health Care Ltd, now known as Interserve Health Care Ltd. They each admitted two counts of health and safety breaches and will be sentenced on Tuesday morning. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecutor Lisa Roberts said the failings went back as far as four years, with the North Lancashire Primary Care Trust having no record that the bed even existed. She said that it had not been properly assessed or inspected, no risk assessments had been undertaken despite Norton’s frequent fits and faults had not been recorded. Roberts said: “She was sleeping in a bed with rails that were blatantly not safe.” NHS Litigation Services, who represented the two primary care trusts, issued an apology to Norton’s family, as did Richard Seabrook for Interserve Health Care Ltd. |