Compensation for woman’s family after care home failures

Posted 14/04/2011

A nursing home has been forced to pay compensation after a woman died because of its failings in care.

Doreen Betts, 78, lived at Kersal Mount Nursing Home in Broomhill when she developed serious bedsores, the Sheffield Star reports.

A doctor recommended that staff seek specialist help to treat them, but nothing was done for three months.

Her daughter Joanne went to visit her one day and discovered the elderly lady was seriously ill, so she called an ambulance.

The sores were so bad on her feet that she skin was worn through to the bone and although treatment was administered in hospital, Mrs Betts developed sepsis and kidney failure, passing away on May 9th 2009.

After legal action was taken against the home, now known as The Laurels and The Limes, an undisclosed sum was agreed upon as clinical negligence compensation for the family.

“Something like this must never happen again,” her son Stephen commented.

This comes after a compensation payout was awarded to disabled woman Jeanette De Bono, 28, who was badly scalded in a care home in 2002 after staff lowered her into a bath that was too hot.

Rosamund Rhodes-Kemp, a clinical negligence expert at Ashtons Legal, says: “As a former nurse I am staggered by the number of pressure sore cases that we receive. They used to be incredibly rare and I did not see a single sore in my time in the NHS.

“Good nursing care is key to preventing pressure sores. They are excruciatingly painful and if bad enough can cause death.”