Care provider ordered to pay more than £33,500

A care provider has been ordered to pay more than £33,500 at Plymouth Magistrates’ Court after it failed to protect residents from avoidable harm.

Teignbridge House Care Home Ltd was fined £21,000 and ordered to pay a £170 victim surcharge and £12,491.60 costs.

On 27 April 2018, Mr Bondi, who was a vulnerable person, was able to climb out of an unrestricted window in his first-floor bedroom at Teignbridge House in Teignbridge, Devon. He subsequently fell from the roof, landing on concrete below and sustaining a number of life changing injuries.

Following this incident, the provider undertook an audit of windows in the home. A further 17 were identified as lacking window restrictors, exposing other service users, a number of whom suffered from dementia, to a significant risk of avoidable harm.

Teignbridge House Care Home Ltd pleaded guilty to failing to provide safe care and treatment to Mr Bondi, resulting in him being exposed to a significant risk of avoidable harm.

Amanda Stride, CQC’s head of inspection for adult social care, said: ‘This is a distressing case and I welcome the guilty pleas from Teignbridge House Care Home Ltd.

‘People have every right to expect safe care at Teignbridge House, but the provider failed in its specific legal duty to protect residents from being exposed to a significant risk of harm.’