A care provider has been ordered to pay £138,765 and a previous manager has been ordered to pay £16,167 at Beverley Magistrates’ Court, after the manager failed to protect a resident from avoidable harm, and the provider failed to have effective systems and processes resulting in residents being exposed to abuse.
Both the provider and manager were sentenced today (15 July). The provider pleaded guilty on an earlier occasion, a previous manager, Katie Daysley, was convicted after trial which took place in June.
Humberside Independent Care Association (HICA), was fined £128,000. It was also ordered to pay a £120 victim surcharge and £10,645 costs to the Care Quality Commission (CQC), which brought this prosecution. Katie Daysley was ordered to pay £1,000 and £15,067 costs and a victim surcharge of £100.
Raleigh Court Care Home (run by HICA) is a residential home in Hull providing care to older people, many who live with dementia.
A resident had been living at Raleigh Court since August 2017, they suffered from advanced dementia and lacked capacity.
Robert Carpenter had been a resident at Raleigh Court since January 2018. In April 2018 a social worker spoke to Katie Daysley and informed her that Robert was on the sex offenders register and had committed a sexual offence as well as other offences. On 27 April 2018 the social worker provided the deputy manager with an assessment which listed the convictions.
On 28 June 2018 Robert sexually assaulted the resident. Police were called and Robert was arrested. On 9 August 2019 he was convicted of an offence of causing a person with a mental disorder to engage in sexual activity.
HICA admissions policy stated that people with a history of criminal sexual offences should not be admitted to any HICA care homes. However, Robert remained at Raleigh Court.
The court heard the provider did not have an effective admissions policy in place or carry out a full and thorough risk assessment with other health and care organisations to ensure this resident and others were not at risk.
Following this incident, HICA have put in place a new management of offenders policy which details processes the home must follow if someone has a history of offences.
This case relates to Regulations 13 and 22 and the failure that adequate systems and processes were not in place to prevent abuse and protect this resident, which exposed them and others to a significant risk of avoidable harm.
Alison Chilton, CQCs head of adult social care inspection, said:
“This is a really distressing case and our sympathies are with the family.
“It’s vital that health and social are organisations have adequate systems and processes in place to protect people from any kind of harm or abuse as everyone has the right to be kept safe while living in and receiving care. This was not the case at HICA, and the provider and manager failed in their legal duty to protect this vulnerable person.
“The home has since put in place a new policy to protect people and they must ensure this is fully embedded to keep people safe and make sure they are not at risk of harm or abuse.
“I hope this prosecution reminds HICA and other care providers of their duty to assess and manage all risks to ensure people are kept safe.”