Case Highlights Importance Of Equipment Checks

The case of an 81-year-old woman who suffered back and shoulder injuries following a fall from a lifting swing at a nursing home highlights the importance of regularly checking equipment, according to an expert at Irwin Mitchell.

Frances Shannon fell three feet when the sling failed in the incident at the Christopher Grange Nursing Home in Knotty Ash on December 4th 2008 and died at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital on the following day.

The organisation which runs the home, the Catholic Blind Institute, was prosecuted for failing to regularly check the condition of the lifting swing in line with regulations.

Katrina Elsey, who specialises in public liability cases at Irwin Mitchell’s Sheffield office, said: “As this terrible case highlights, something as simple as regular checks on equipment can make a massive difference in the quality of care that elderly people in residential or care homes receive.

“I urge all firms involved in the management and maintenance of such sites to ensure that regulations on this issue are being follow to the letter, for the sake of the many cases like this we see every year.

“Lessons need to be learnt if errors which carry such major consequences are going to become a thing of the past.”