In England, 3 care home managers have been charged with manslaughter following the death of an 86-year-old woman who died two weeks after the property was shut down by inspectors. Ivy Atkin died in November 2012, a fortnight after she was moved from Autumn Grange Care Home in Sherwood Rise, Nottingham, into another care home.
Inspectors from the Care Quality Commission investigated the home prior to it closing in November 2012. At the time, 28 residents had to be immediately rehoused in other accommodation. Mrs Atkin had been moved to Autumn Grange in the summer of 2012.
Naseen Kiani, 53, and Yousaf Khan, 46, and 38-year-old operations manager Mohammed Rahamatullah Khan have now been charged with gross negligence manslaughter. They jointly owned Sherwood Rise Limited, which is accused of failing to provide Mrs Atkin with adequate food and drinks and check she was taking fluids. A fourth person, care worker Safeena Bibi, 26, of Nottingham, has been charged with offences under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.
The care home company, Sherwood Rise Limited, also faces a charge of corporate manslaughter.
The Crown Prosecution Service have confirmed it is the first care home company to be charged under the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act. From April 2015, there are changes in the way health and safety is regulated in care homes with the Care Quality Commission now undertaking more regulation and enforcement of health and safety breaches arising from “want of care” of residents. However, whilst this case clearly preceded the introduction of these changes, it is unlikely that the changes would have led to a different approach being taken.
