One elderly pensioner residing on the Isle of Wight was recently awarded personal injury compensation after he suffered severe burns at one of the island’s respite care homes, accident claim experts recently reported.
Brian Leek, seventy six years of age, had been attending Freshwater’s Gouldings care home when he suffered scalding burns from a shower he had been using at the facility after it sprayed him with hot water. Mr Leek was rushed to a burn injury unit in Salisbury for treatment of the thirteen percent burns he suffered in the incident, according to his personal injury claims, and he has been unable to return to the house he once shared with his wife in the wake of the incident due to the severity of his injuries, leaving him no choice but to reside in a care home.
According to investigators from the Health and Safety Executive that were on hand in the wake of the incident, there was no thermostatic mixing valve on the shower fitting, even though the valve would have eliminated the risk of people using the facility from being scalded as it limits water temperatures to 41°C at most. As a result of the investigation, the care home’s operators, the Isle of Wight Council, were given a £12,000 fine and told to pay a total of £5,133 after the council admitted breaching health and safety regulations at a Portsmouth Magistrates’ Court hearing.
Mr Leek, who made a claim for damages against the local authority, has been awarded a compensation package that has not been disclosed to the press.