Safe Holding Training – Manage Distress – Scotland
The Challenge of Distressed Behaviour in Care This post is about conflict management | personal safety | dynamis training. Gerard O’Dea, our Director of Training, was recently asked to provide an opinion on how care homes in Scotland can deal with the issues of distressed, difficult, or dangerous behaviours when caring for older people in […]
Restraint Training: Unsafe Handling caused death of resident and £57,000 fine
This post is about conflict management | personal safety | dynamis training. A South Lanarkshire care home provider was heavily fined after an elderly resident died after breaking her neck in a fall. At Hamilton Sheriff Court, BUPA Care Homes (Carrick) Ltd was fined £57,000 after pleading guilty to a breach of Section 3 of […]
£150,000 fine for Care Home Wheelchair Restraint Strap Death
A private healthcare company was fined £150,000 in January 2012 after admitting its part in the death of an elderly nursing home resident who was strangled by a wheelchair lap belt. Brigid O’Callaghan, known as Vera, was found dead on the morning of October 28, 2005 at Amberley Court Nursing Home in Edgbaston, Birmingham. […]
Care Home Safe Holding: Massive Fines in Elderly Care Home Worker Stabbing
An NHS trust was ordered to pay almost half a million pounds in fines and costs for breaches of health and safety laws relating to an incident where a care worker was stabbed at a residential care home. The case involved the placing of Stephen Flatt, then 55, at Abacus House in Dunstable by the […]
Care Home Safe Holding: Alzheimer’s man (90) punched to death by fellow resident
Care home safe holding has to account for risk between residents, not only between staff and residents. Dennis Bryant died in November 2013 at the age of 90 after fellow Alzheimer’s patient, Michael Hall, went into his room in Westcott House Nursing Home in Dorking and punched him several times in his bed. The attacker, […]
Elderly Care and how to manage aggression and violent behaviour with restraint training
Managing Aggression in Elderly Care We have come across a solicitor’s case which neatly summarises the points we make to care home managers across the country. We gratefully reproduce it here for posterity — it is a sobering lesson in risk assessment, duty of care, and the consequences of waiting for something serious to happen […]
Safe Holding Training – Bathing without the Battle or the Bruises!
Bathing is one of the most reliable flashpoints in care work. It is also one of the least discussed, because it happens behind a closed door and the bruises, when they come, are rarely anyone else’s business. Resistance to personal care is rarely about the water. A bath or a shower asks a person to […]
Restraint Training: Soft Cuff as the Least Restrictive Option
An innovative and significant restraint device is now available to hospitals and care services in the UK — and it deserves a serious, comprehensive exploration. The equipment is formally known as the Emergency Response Cuff (ERC) and is sometimes referred to as the “Soft-Cuff” due to its tough-cloth construction. While sharing many characteristics with its […]
Care Home Safe Holding: 72-year old woman died after assault by fellow resident
A 72-year-old grandmother died 13 days after being attacked at a care home. Maureen Shone, 72, was found by staff on the floor of her bedroom in Trentham, Staffordshire after being brutally assaulted by a male patient. Staff found the attacker near Mrs Shone’s room covered in blood. A metal curtain pole had been used […]
Resident left the building: Care Home fined £140,000 and ordered to pay £65,000 costs
The owners of a Stamford care home where an elderly woman died have been fined £140,000 and ordered to pay £65,000 costs. The Incident Staff at the Whitefriars Care Home in St George’s Avenue failed to notice that pensioner Dorothy Spicer, 84, had gone missing on the evening of November 25, 2009. She was found […]