Statistics show that there was a 30% staff shortage in January, with 2/3 of care home providers having to decline new residents. During the peak of the pandemic, care homes experienced substantial staff shortages, which can be risky to the residents, who require the best possible treatment at all times. If you or your family were affected by care home negligence in the last 3 years; we highly advise contacting one of our experienced medical negligence solicitors, here at Solicitors On Your Side.
When a family decides on a care home for their loved one; there is a range of things that they base their decision on to ensure that their loved one is provided with the best care and treatment during their stay. Deciding on the right care home is hard for all families, that is why when they are faced with negligence and mistreatment, it is fair that they would want compensation for the damage and trauma they have faced. If you or your family have experienced negligence in the care home due to no fault of your own, we highly advise starting your claim with Solicitors On Your Side.
Duty of Care
When residing in a care home, the residents require constant high-quality treatment and a peaceful and safe environment; there is a range of things that the care home staff must do to ensure it, and they should be provided with extraneous training to ensure that this behaviour is kept up. If the care home employees fail to do this, and the residents experience damage to their health, mental wellbeing, or financial stability due to this, the staff are breaching their duty of care.
These things may not always be caused due to the staff failing to carry out their duties correctly, but due to the care home facing things like staff shortages which stop the staff from completing a good and thorough role.
In many circumstances, however, the duty of care is breached through negligence, and staff failing to provide the right care to the right standard results in injury to the residents.
It is also the employee’s duty of care to ensure that their staff is trained well, providing the home with enough staff to take care of the residents correctly. It is the care home’s responsibility to also carry out health and safety checks, and machine maintenance checks, and ensure that any hazards are taken care of in a good time, avoiding accidents from occurring.
Common Care Home Negligence Claims
If the staff fail to adhere to their responsibilities in the workplace, the residents can experience injuries and damage to their health. The most common care home negligence claims that our experienced solicitors come across include:
- Falls make up a lot of care home negligence claims. Proper supervision and safety measures should be in place at all times in care homes to ensure the safety of their residents. Unsupervised residents pose a higher risk of falls, which can have a detrimental impact on their health, especially if elders have underlying health conditions.
- Bed or pressure sores occur when a resident is left in the same position for too long, correct bedding, bandages and other precautions should be in place to avoid the occurrence of pressure sores occurring at all times, to the more vulnerable residents.
- Lifting procedures result in an accident. The employers of the care home residents must be trained properly to ensure that the residents are lifted to and from bed safely and properly when it is necessary.
- Medication errors result in complications to the resident’s health. The residents must be distributed the correct medication to treat any conditions they may be experiencing, including administering the correct prescription and dosage. Incorrect medication can cause the residents’ condition to deteriorate or cause unnecessary complications to their health that can be claimed for.
If you or a loved one has experienced negligence and damage to their health, we highly advise that you contact one of our trained medical negligence experts at Solicitors On Your Side now.
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