Salford responsible for drowning death

Salford social services department has admitted responsibility
for the death of a 30-year-old man who died three years ago while
in its care and paid £1,750 compensation to his family.

Malcolm Rowley, who had the physical capacity of a four-month
old baby and required 24-hour supervision, drowned when he was left
unattended in the bath for a matter of minutes.

His carers had left him alone to give him privacy to wash
himself.

In a letter to Rowley’s mother, the council’s chief executive
admitted the council had “failed your son resulting in his tragic
death”.

An inquest found that Rowley died of accidental death,
contributed to by neglect. Last year the council pleaded guilty to
two charges and was fined £115,000 by the Health & Safety
Executive.

However, a compensation settlement and apology has only just
been agreed following negotiations between solicitors for the
council and Rowley’s mother. His mother described the settlement,
awarded for personal injury, as “obscene”.

Deputy director of community and social services Eve Murphy
said: “Risk assessment and management procedures are now in place
to prevent an incident like this happening again.”

More from Community Care

Comments are closed.