NHS Highland "deeply sorry" over death of OAP in Raigmore hospital
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NHS Highland has admitted a health and safety breach after a pensioner died following a series of falls attributed to staff shortages at Raigmore Hospital in Inverness.
The health board was brought before Inverness Sheriff Court where it admitted responsibility for the death of 78-year-old Colin Lloyd.
He died on February 16, 2019, after three falls during his admission at a ward at the hospital during the previous 10 days.
The cause of death was determined as subdural haematoma, hypertension, ischaemic frontal lobe stroke and type two diabetes due to the falls.
The court heard he was deemed of a “high risk” of falling over but that the nursing shortage situation meant that he was not adequately supervised.
Fiscal depute Trina Sinclair said Mr Lloyd was in need of one to one care which was not always available - especially at night.
The court was told Mr Lloyd was initially admitted to hospital following a fall at home.
However Ms Sinclair said there were “various nursing shortages during the period” when he was in the hospital.
During one occasion nursing staff heard a scream from his room and found he had rolled out of his bed and was bleeding from the scalp.
Defence advocate Grant Markie said the NHS board had “deep regret” at the death of Mr Lloyd and that it had “fallen short of high standards” in his care.
He added that NHS Highland admitted to “failing to provide the adequate level of staff” which was “more acute during the night shift”.
He outlined to the court a number of steps that had been taken by the health board in the aftermath of Mr Lloyd's death.
The charge stated that NHS Highland, listed as being head-quartered at Assynt House, Inverness, failed to put in place effective arrangements to ensure that those identified with a risk of falling had preventative measures to stop such incidents.
In doing so Mr Lloyd suffered repeated falls and suffered fatal head trauma, the charge further stated.
Sheriff Robert Frazer deferred sentence for further consideration until February 14.
NHS Highland has now apologised for the incident.
A spokeswoman said: "We are deeply sorry for the failures identified in our care that led to the death of a patient at Raigmore Hospital in 2019.
"We recognise the lasting hurt this will have caused to those who loved and cared for Mr Lloyd and we are sorry for letting them down. "Our internal review following the incident identified several areas of improvement and as a result we have made a number of changes to our systems and practice.
"This includes clearer, more responsive processes for escalating staff shortages, the introduction of volunteers to provide additional support and companionship for older people in the acute hospital setting, and enhanced training for staff caring for people who are at risk of falling."
