Coroner says the death of a former nurse scalded in a Deeside care-home was accidental.
An inquest has been told a care assistant at a Deeside nursing home where resident Beatrice Morgan was scalded in a hot bath had not been given formal training.
Nicky Heaps a Care worker at Greencroft Residential Home, Aston – Deeside, told the hearing she was given no formal training and that she shadowed other care workers to learn how things were done.
Mrs Morgan 88 a dementia patient, suffered burns to 18% of her body when she was lowered into a bath of hot water by two care assistants via a hoist, she screamed out in pain and was immediately removed and checked over by a nurse, the subsequent injuries were a contributing factor in her death, the inquest in Wrexham was told.
Ms Heaps told the hearing she used a thermometer to record a temperature of 38 degrees centigrade on a log sheet in the bathroom, she said she had not been told to leave the thermometer in the water until the measurement stopped rising and had not been told where to take the temperature from.
A Health and Safety Executive investigation found staff had been instructed to check water temperature with a thermometer before baths however, no checks were made by management to ensure this was happening.
In September 2014 Greencroft Care Ltd of Larch Avenue, Aston, pleaded guilty to a breach of the Health and Safety at Work, they were fined £5,000, at the time the judge said if the firm had not been in liquidation, he would have sent the case to crown court, where the fine would have been at least £100,000.
The Acting manager at the time of the incident of Tracey Davies told the hearing she had never seen any specific bathing policies at the care home.
At today’s hearing North Wales East and Central coroner John Gittins recorded the death as accidental.
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