NHS trust fined

Posted 08/06/2010

An NHS trust has been fined £50,000 after it was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) over a disabled man’s death.

Cerebral palsy sufferer Kyle Flack, 20, died at Basildon University Hospital early on October 12th 2006 after getting his head trapped in bed railings.

Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust admitted breaching safety regulations in February 2010 after it was found that Mr Flack was not given the one-to-one care that he should have had.

He was also placed in an adult bed, despite having the body of a 12-year-old, which enabled him to fit his head between the railings.

The NHS trust has now been charged with breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and ordered to pay £50,000 in fines.

Mr Flack’s mother Gill said: “This result has helped us to feel that justice has finally been done. Today marks the end of a long journey.”

In February, Rosamund Rhodes-Kemp, who heads the Clinical Negligence team at Ashtons Legal, suggested that mandatory special measures rather like those adopted for failing schools should be put in place for hospitals that have poor patient safety records.