Audrey Allen: Council fined over care home death fall

Audrey Allen was 80 when she died

A council has been fined £500,000 after a woman with dementia died following a fall at one of its care homes.

Audrey Allen, 80, died in hospital a month after the fall at The Grange, in Eckington, Derbyshire, in March 2016.

At Chesterfield Magistrates' Court, Derbyshire County Council admitted failing to provide safe care and treatment.

The authority is the first council to be prosecuted by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

Audrey Allen, pictured in 1964, had a distinguished career as a midwife

Mrs Allen, a former head of midwifery at Chesterfield Royal Hospital, suffered 12 rib fractures and a damaged lung in the fall.

She died in hospital from her injuries the following month.

The court heard Derbyshire County Council did not have an up-to-date falls policy.

No assessment of Mrs Allen's needs had been carried out by staff and no measures had been put in place to protect her, despite her being a high-risk resident.

There was also a shortage of senior staff due to restructuring by the council.

The judge said the fine would have been more had the authority not entered an early guilty plea, and questioned how it could have been allowed to happen at a care home rated as "good".

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The council said it had revised its falls policy and taken on more staff since Mrs Allen's death

Derbyshire County Council has apologised to Mrs Allen's family.

Leader Barry Lewis said: "In this case, our actions fell below the high standards that we expect of ourselves and we are truly sorry for what happened.

"The safety and wellbeing of our residents is our number one priority and we have worked extremely hard to address the issues involved in this tragic case."