A CARE home has been hit with a fine after an elderly resident was injured in a fall and later died while undergoing surgery.

Parkside care home, on Prescot Road has been ordered to pay £12,453 in fines and costs by Merseyside Magistrates’ Court after a prosecution was brought forward by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

This followed a serious accident at the care home, a service operated by Parkside (St Helens) Limited.

The provider had previously pleaded guilty to an offence of failing to provide safe care and treatment resulting in avoidable harm to one of the residents, Beatrice Platt.

The court heard how on October 13, 2015 Mrs Platt, who was aged 86, was supported by two members as she took a bath using a bath chair.

As the bath was being completed Mrs Platt was moved by a single member of staff in contravention of her care plan which stipulated she needed a minimum of two people to move her safely.

As a result, Mrs Platt slipped from the bath chair and fell to the ground landing heavily on her knee.

The following day Mrs Platt complained of pain and a doctor was called. The GP suspected a fractured knee, advised an urgent referral to hospital for an X-ray and offered to arrange an ambulance.

The care home did not follow the doctor’s advice to get Mrs Platt to hospital for the X-ray and instead staff provided pain relief.

Although the care home called Mrs Platt’s family, they failed to go into detail about what happened or the severity of the fall.

It was only five days after the accident when the family visited the care home that they realised the level of pain Mrs Platt was in and immediately took her to hospital, where she was diagnosed with a fractured knee.

Some days later Mrs Platt underwent an operation on her knee, but suffered a heart attack during surgery and died.

Prosecuting counsel Danielle Gilmour, acting for CQC, told the court that Parkside (St Helens) Limited did not act quickly enough in contacting healthcare professionals or family members, and the guidance offered to staff to respond to similar incidents was ineffective.

The combination of failures led to Mrs Platt suffering avoidable harm and not receiving immediate medical treatment.

District judge Nicola Shaw sentenced the provider, which was fined £3,333 for failing in its duty to provide safe care and treatment to Mrs Platt and ordered to pay £9,000 towards the cost of the prosecution and a £120 victim surcharge.

Sue Howard, deputy chief inspector of adult social care at the CQC, said: “People living in care homes are entitled to be kept safe from harm.

"Parkside (St Helens) Limited failed in its duty to ensure that care and treatment was provided to Mrs Platt in a safe and timely way.

“Mrs Platt was badly injured while in this provider’s care, and as a result of their failures she was left suffering in pain for five days before eventually receiving medical attention.

"Sadly, she was never to make a recovery and our sympathy goes out to her family. It is an incident which should not have happened.”

The Star has contacted Parkside for comment.