The Fremantle Trust fined after disabled dementia sufferer put at 'significant risk of harm' at Lent Rise House care home, Burnham

The Fremantle Trust has been fined thousands of pounds for failing to provide safe care and treatment to Mr John Widdall, who was tetraplegic and suffering from advanced dementia, at Lent Rise House care home in Burnham.

Mr Widdall required oral suctioning by qualified nursing or care staff to prevent him choking on saliva – but on December 16, 2017, while visiting, his wife witnessed an untrained agency worker trying to suction her husband’s mouth.

She intervened to stop the worker immediately – and the agency staff member was prevented from working at the home again after the Fremantle Trust notified the Care Quality Commission (CQC) what happened.

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There was no evidence that the agency worker involved in the incident had completed an induction or that they had read Mr Widdall’s care plan, which clearly specified he needed suctioning to prevent choking, and they had not been trained by the provider to carry out the suctioning procedure.

In a hearing at Wycombe Magistrates’ Court on February 1, The Fremantle Trust, which is based in Aylesbury, was fined £2,000 and ordered to pay £7,000 in prosecution costs after pleading guilty to failing to provide safe care and treatment and exposing Mr Widdall to significant risk of avoidable harm.

The CQC, who brought the prosecution, said The Fremantle Trust failed to have a written policy or procedure about suctioning which had been read by all staff – including agency staff – and had failed to ensure that all staff were aware that only trained staff could carry out the procedure.

Lent Rise House

Rebecca Bauers, head of adult social care inspection in CQC’s south region, said: “Every person using care services deserves to receive good quality, safe care and to be protected from avoidable harm.

“In this case, Mr Widdall was placed in a situation that could have put him at risk of harm had it not been for his wife’s timely intervention.

“As with all care providers, The Fremantle Trust has a legal duty to ensure that care and treatment are provided in a safe way.

“On this occasion, it failed to do so because it did not ensure that all staff were aware that only appropriately qualified and trained personnel could use the oral suctioning equipment.

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“Where we find that a care provider has put people in its care at serious risk of harm, we will always take action to ensure that people are safe and hold providers to account.”

Sara Livadeas, The Fremantle Trust's chief executive, said: “We are sorry that this incident involving an agency worker occurred in one of our care homes in December 2017.

"We want all of our residents to receive the best possible care at all times. We have reviewed our processes to make sure that such an event does not happen again and have also significantly reduced the use of agency staff.

"I am pleased to say the Lent Rise House is rated Good by CQC on all 5 criteria.”