Shropshire care homes firm fined £50,000 over grandfather who died after a month without crucial medication

Dennis Wootton, 78, had gone a month without being given crucial medication when he died in April last year at Coton Hill House in Shrewsbury, Telford Magistrates Court was told.

Coverage Care, which runs the home and 13 others in the county, admitted failing to provide safe care and treatment resulting in a significant risk of exposure to avoidable harm.

Alison Gough, of High Street, Wem, who was manager of the home at the time, also appeared at court today and pleaded guilty to the same charge. The 50-year-old was fined £665.

The charges were brought after an investigation by the Care Quality Commission government watchdog.

The court heard father-of-three Mr Wootton, from Wem, was taken to hospital in February last year after complaining of chest pains.

He was discharged a few weeks later and prescribed medication to thin blood clots in the arteries around his lungs.

Mr Wooton was moved by his family to Coton Hill for respite care initially before becoming a permanent resident.

But Miss Jenny Ashwood, prosecuting, said that when the medication given to him by the hospital ran out on March 9 last year, the home only had three days' worth of tablets to give him before running out of stock.

Staff never sourced any more – and the result was he went at least 30 days without taking the crucial medication before his death on April 11, she told the court.

Mr David Whittaker, for Coverage Care, said the company "genuinely felt sorrow" for the death of Mr Wootton.

He added: "This company prides itself on providing the best service to its users.

"It never takes its failings lightly, and it has made efforts to ensure the failings are not repeated in future."

Mr Andrew Holland, for Gough, said his client had worked for Coverage Care for 25 years prior to the incident and was thought of highly within the company.

He said she was suffering from fatigue and depression at the time of the incident and added: "This has had a profound effect on her, both physically and mentally."

District Judge Nigel Cadbury, passing sentence, ruled there had been "significant failures" by the company and Gough.

But he added: "The professional opinion of a pharmacologist was that it could not be said failure to give medication caused the death.

"The failures of the company and Alison Gough did not cause Mr Wootton's death, but the failures did expose him to significant risk which could have been fatal."