Care home fall leads to firm in dock over health and safety charge

Representatives of a care firm have appeared in court as the company faces a health and safety accusation linked to the death of an elderly woman.
Alders Care HomeAlders Care Home
Alders Care Home

A resident at The Alders Care Home, in Arnside Crescent, Morecambe, died in 2015 after suffering a broken hip when, it is alleged, she fell from a stairlift at the home.

Care company Calderdean Limited, based on Church Street, Blackpool, which ran the home at the time, is accused of failing to discharge a general health and safety duty to a person other than an employee.

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A first hearing at Preston Magistrates’ Court was told between April 1, 2014 and February 28, 2015, the company failed to conduct an undertaking people were not exposed to risks to their health and safety.

It is alleged the woman was not strapped into the stairlift properly.

Employer Margaret Louisa Croft, of Lockey Croft, Wiggington, York, appeared in court accused of the same charge as the firm.

The bench deemed the offences too serious for the magistrates’ court and committed the case to Preston Crown Court to be dealt with.

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The case will next be heard there on March 21 at a plea and case management hearing.

The home, which is registered for a maximum of 32 service users, costs up to £421 a week and cares for elderly people with dementia and mental health conditions.

It has been under the management of a different company, Thornton Lodge Care Ltd, since February 16, 2015.

(proceeding)