Woman’s death leads to charge

A healthcare firm will face a charge of breaching health and safety over the death of an 89-year-old woman at a Telford nursing home.

Rosalind Joyce James died at St Georges Park Care Centre, St Georges, Telford, on April 20, 2005.

An inquest jury ruled in July last year she died after her neck became compressed by a rail fitted on her bed.

It returned a verdict of accidental death aggravated by a failure to fit the correct type of bed rails for the bed occupied by Mrs James.

Ashbourne Health Care Ltd, which now operates the care centre but did not at the time of the incident, is due at Telford Magistrates’ Court on September 14. It faces a charge of contravening a section of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.

Mrs James’s cause of death was given as cardiac arrhythmia due to neck compression with contributory factors of cerebral vascular disease, old age and hypertension.

At the time of the inquest Telford & Wrekin coroner Mr Michael Gwynne said the cot sides to the bed had been incorrectly fitted, incorrectly erected and were not positioned at the right height.

Mr Gwynne said Mrs James had been found “out of bed with her head positioned between the side of the bed and the bed rail or cot side which was pressing against her neck”.

The new owners have since stated they have improved procedures.