Fareham care home owners fined almost £97k after leaving pensioner to choke to death on food

Alec Marshall died in March 2017 after being left alone to eat his lunch at Fareham’s former Merry Hall Nursing and Residential Care Home.

Care plans drawn up by the Kiln Road home – now called Hartwell Lodge – had identified Mr Marshall as a choking risk.

But despite the need for his food to be cut into small ‘bite-sized’ chunks and for him to be ‘monitored during meal times’, staff left Mr Marshall alone – which led to him choking to death.

Now bosses at Buckland Care Limited, which runs the home, have been fined £96,475 following a hearing at Southampton Magistrates’ Court.

The health firm pleaded guilty to failing to provide safe care and treatment, resulting in avoidable harm, following a prosecution by watchdogs the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

Rebecca Bauers, head of adult social care inspection in CQC’s south region, said: ‘This is a distressing case, and our thoughts and sympathies are with Mr Marshall’s family.

‘He had every right to expect good, quality care and it is right that the provider has accepted responsibility in this case.

‘It was the serious failure of the home to protect Mr Marshall from avoidable harm that led to CQC’s prosecution of the provider. In their role as provider Buckland Care Services had a specific legal duty to ensure care and treatment was provided in a safe way.

‘We found they had failed to do this by not ensuring risks had been fully assessed and measures were not in place to prevent harm.’

The court heard staff at the home had identified Mr Marshall’s need for extra support at meal times.

However, despite advising staff to cut his food up and supervise him while he ate, the daily handover sheet on March 12 failed to say how small the chunks of food should be.

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Mr Marshall was then left to eat his food alone in his room. He was found shortly after, unresponsive.

Paramedics later removed two-inch by one-inch piece of meat from Mr Marshall’s throat.

But resuscitation was unsuccessful and he was pronounced dead at the scene.

Buckland Care Limited has since apologised for the tragedy and insisted new safety measures had been put in place.

A spokeswoman added: ‘This was a tragic incident and we would like to offer again our sincere apologies and condolences to Mr Marshall’s family.

‘The wellbeing and safety of our residents remains our absolute priority. Since the incident occurred three years ago, we have undertaken a thorough review of the service, which is now under a new management team.

‘They have implemented measures to improve the service by introducing more robust processes and to provide increased levels of training to all our staff, who are working so hard during this pandemic.’

Hartwell Lodge is currently rated as ‘requiring improvement’ in all five areas assessed by the CQC.

Magistrates fined Buckland £80,000 and ordered the company to pay £16,305 prosecution cost, plus a £170 victim surcharge.

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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