Hospital fined

Hospital fined after death of dementia patient


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Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust has been fined £366,000 after the death of a patient on a specialist dementia ward.

Mrs Darnell had been admitted to the Blicking Ward of Julian Hospital, a specialist ward for people suffering from dementia, on 28 Septemver 2014. On October 16, she was reported missing and found face-down in a bath full of water in one of the ward's bathrooms.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that the Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust did not have sufficient policies and procedures in place for managing the safety of patients. They had failed to complete a risk assessment for Mrs Joan Darnell and take steps to prevent vulnerable patients  having unsupervised access to the bathrooms. The Trust did not have adequate systems and arrangements in place to ensure that patients under their care on the ward were effectively monitored.

The Trust was fined £336,000 and ordered to pay costs of £12,888.48.

For more information, see the full story on HSE's website from 28 November 2016.