Care home manager Caroline Taylforth to pay £55k over resident deaths

John Chapman died after a fall at Rossendale Nursing Home in Lytham St Annes in January 2020

The former manager of a care home has been ordered to pay more than £55,000 over the deaths of two residents.

Patricia Sutton, 77, died after choking at Rossendale Nursing Home in Lytham St Annes, Lancashire, in November 2019 and 82-year-old John Chapman died after breaking his leg in a fall in 2020.

Caroline Taylforth, 62, pleaded guilty to two counts of causing avoidable harm by failing to provide adequate care.

Inspectors had rated the home inadequate in June 2021.

Blackpool Magistrates' Court heard Ms Sutton had experienced three previous choking incidents at the home before her death.

The court was told a motion sensor had alerted staff that Mr Chapman, who was at risk of falls, was out of bed in the early hours of 14 January 2020 and staff found he had had another fall and had broken his leg.

He died a few weeks later.

A post-mortem examination concluded his broken leg was a secondary cause of death.

Rossendale Nursing Home was shut after it was rated inadequate in 2021

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) found in both cases prevention measures were overlooked or poorly implemented, putting residents at unnecessary and avoidable harm.

The care home was shut after it was rated inadequate.

Taylforth was sentenced to a fine of £20,000 per victim, plus £15,000 in costs and £180 victim surcharge.

Mr Chapman's daughter, Helen, said in her victim impact statement, her father was an "incredibly proud and hardworking" man and a key figure in the family who "adored" his seven grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

She described how the findings from the CQC investigation and learning there were "a high number of falls in addition to the ones they were aware of were devastating to hear".

"As a family we were trusting that the care home would provide the appropriate care required," she said.

'Mental torment'

Now the family were left questioning their initial judgement and were "haunted by what ifs", she added.

Ms Chapman said it was like opening a "Pandora's box to fully acknowledge and reflect on the enormity of suffering we feel our dad endured and mental torment we have all suffered throughout the series of events leading up to and following his death".

"I feel mentally scarred as a result of seeing a photograph of my dad with an unexplained black eye looking a shadow of his former self."

She went on to describe the "mental torture of imagining how frightened and vulnerable my dad must have felt".

His "avoidable" death had significantly impacted on her mother, Helen said, adding she had "suffered from depression at this enormous loss in her life".

John Chapman's children Helen and Mark described their "devastation" at the CQC's findings

Mr Chapman's son, Mark, said outside court they want other families to learn from the loss of their father.

He added there was a "lack of diligence" in the case and called for training in care homes to be "assessed".

Alison Chilton, from the CQC, said: "Patricia and John were seriously let down by the care they received."

"Caroline failed in her duty as registered manager to protect Patricia and John from an avoidable risk of harm in a place that should have been safe and receiving the best possible care to meet their individual needs.

"This fine is not representative of the value of their lives, but this, and the prosecution reminds all care providers they must always ensure people's safety and manage risks to their wellbeing."