Care home operator fined £25,000 after resident falls down flight of stairs

The former operator of the Bentley Care Home in Liverpool has been fined £25,000 after a resident suffered serious injuries from a fall down a flight of stairs.

Argyle Care Group was fined £16,000 for failing in its duty to provide safe care and treatment and ordered to pay £9,500 towards the cost of the prosecution and a £120 victim surcharge after Dorothy Carney sustained a number of injuries from a fall in October 2015, the Liverpool Echo reported.

The Court heard how Mrs Carney sustained a head injury and cuts to her legs after gaining access to an unsecured and unlocked door at the top of the stairs opposite her bedroom.

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Debbie Westhead, Deputy Chief Inspector of Adult Social Care, North, said: “This accident was entirely avoidable.

“Bentley Care Home was inspected by the Care Quality Commission a week before this accident when we pointed out the insecure door and advised them to rectify the problem.

“Argyle Care Group failed in their legal duty and as a consequence one of the people in their care was seriously injured.

“It was an accident which need not and should not have happened.”

Bentley Care Home now operates under new ownership.