A care provider has been ordered to pay £160,657.66 after a fatal incident.

At the hearing at Plymouth Magistrates Court, HF Trust Limited pleaded guilty to failing to provide safe care and treatment to the resident which exposed them to a significant risk of avoidable harm.

It was fined £133,333 in addition to a £190 victim surcharge and £27,134.66 costs.

HF Trust Limited operated its St Teath site across two buildings called Valley View and Rendle House, in Bodmin, which provided accommodation and care for people with a learning disability.

On June 13, 2022 staff at Valley View served Miss Tina Allen lunch and she began choking. Staff made efforts to assist her but were unsuccessful. They called an ambulance, and she was taken to hospital. She was treated for aspiration of food but passed away on June 15, 2022.

She had complex needs and required 24 hour, one-on-one support. In 2015, she had a choking incident, and guidance was added to her care file. Further guidance given following other choking incidents in 2020 was not added to her care file to guide staff.

Catherine Campbell, CQC’s deputy director operations in Cornwall said: “When people receive care and treatment, they have the right to expect care providers will effectively address risks to their health and safety. Sadly this wasn’t the case for Miss Allen at Valley View.

“HF Trust Limited’s failure to manage the risks to this resident was unacceptable.

“The majority of care providers do an excellent job. However, when a provider puts people in its care at risk of harm, we will take action to hold them to account and to protect people.

“This fine is not representative of the value of Miss Allen’s life, but it should serve as a reminder to care providers of their duty to assess and manage people’s risks to ensure they are safe.”

A spokesperson for Hft said: “First and foremost, our thoughts are with Tina's family and friends. She was a much loved member of our community, and is greatly missed by all who knew her. Our entire charity has taken this matter extremely seriously, and acted with full transparency to support the investigation, and we fully accept the outcome of today's proceedings. 

“It was important to Hft that lessons were learned from Tina's death, and we have made a number of positive changes at St Teath and across our entire organisation in the past three years. Under entirely new leadership, we have embedded new quality oversight and assurance systems to better monitor and support our local services.

“We have also transformed permanent staffing levels, and invested in local management. Our teams benefit from a new, enhanced training model, and we are able to share information more easily and quickly thanks to digital care plans. 

“While we very sadly cannot change what happened, we hope that today has brought a sense of closure to Tina's family and friends. Our focus now is on supporting our team to continue providing high-quality, person-centred care for those we support."