Care home fined after resident choked to death

A Borders care home has been fined £16,000 for health and safety breaches after an 86-year-old resident choked to death while eating a meal.

Thomas Telford was on a soft food diet at Riverside Care Ltd in Selkirk after being transferred from Kelso Community Hospital. His meals were required to be mashed due to his swallowing difficulties.

However, on 25 May 2023, he was served a lunch of beef, mashed potatoes and cabbage - some of which lodged in his windpipe and, despite efforts to move it, he died.

Sheriff Peter Paterson reduced the fine from £24,000 to £16,000 for the guilty plea at the first opportunity to breaches of the Health and Safety at Work Act.

Depute fiscal Claire Wallace told the court: "The food had not been pureed or modified to meet his requirements."

She pointed out that a carer was feeding another patient nearby when she noticed his lips turning blue and raised the alarm.

Despite back slaps and abdominal thrusts, Telford, who was also known as Barry, choked to death on the food.

Emma Toner KC, on behalf of Riverside Care, accepted the wrong plate had been served from the kitchen and the level of supervision for eating his meal "fell short" of what was required.

She said all staff were trained in dietary requirements and this had been significantly updated following the death.

The company had no previous convictions and had a "record of high quality care", she told the court.

She added: "This has been of the utmost regret to the company and its directors."

The sheriff said the plating process and the lack of proper supervision when Telford was eating were contributing factors in the death.

He expressed his sympathies to the family who were sitting in the public benches for what was "a death that should have been avoided".