CARE HOME MANAGER FINED £4,000 AFTER TWO WHEELCHAIR USERS DROWN

Janice Sowden has been ordered to pay £4,000 after two disabled residents died when their boat capsized during a care home outing. Alexander Wood and Alison Tilsley drowned at Roadford Lake Activity Centre in June 2022 whilst strapped into electric wheelchairs. A third resident, Kate Dart, sustained serious injury in the same incident. Sowden, the registered manager at Burdon Grange Care Home, previously pleaded guilty to failing to provide safe care and treatment that resulted in avoidable harm to all three individuals.

The wheelyboat, designed to carry wheelchair users, capsized within minutes of setting out on the lake with six wheelchair-dependent residents. Both Mr Wood and Ms Tilsley were unable to be released from their heavy electric wheelchairs, which dragged them underwater. Sowden had failed to undertake any risk assessment before the trip, and had not ensured that one was completed. The court also heard that one staff member accompanying the group could not swim, a factor that had not been properly considered.

Exeter Magistrates' Court found that a "cultural complacency" had developed at the care home prior to the incident, with standards having slipped from earlier practice. Judge Stuart Smith noted that Sowden should have recognised the obvious need for health and safety assessments given the extreme vulnerability of the residents. The court described Sowden as demonstrating a "blase" attitude towards risk management. Sowden, of Beaworthy, Devon, had served as registered manager since 2016.