Care home manager avoids prison after residents 'drowned by the weight of their wheelchairs' on day out

Care home manager avoids prison after residents 'drowned by the weight of their wheelchairs' on day out Registered manager, Janice Sowden, avoided prison after failing to provide safe care and treatment which led to the avoidable deaths of two patients, Alexander wood and Alison Tilsley. A care home manager avoided prison and was ordered to pay £4,000 after two vulnerable people in wheelchairs drowned whilst in her care. Father of four Alexander Wood, 43 and Alison TIlsley,63 tragically died when a wheelyboat they were in overturned at Roadford Lake, Devon. Kate Date was also seriously injured in the incident. Registered manager, Janice Sowden, 60, pleaded guilty for failing to provide safe care and treatment which led to avoidable harm. Sowden failed to access the risk of the outing in June 2022, where she took six patients, all wheelchair users from Burdon Grange Care Home, Devon to the activity centre. Prosecutor James Marsland explained the wheely boat is designed to carry wheelchair users and had been hired from the centre for their trip to the lake. He said: "Alexander Wood and Alison Tilsley, in particular, were strapped into electric wheelchairs without any means of being released from them." Within minutes the vessel started to take on water within minutes and the boat capsized, the court heard. Marsland said both, Alexander and Alison were “drowned by the weight of their wheelchairs” which pulled them under the water. Swoden, of Devon was appointed as the registered manager at the care home in 2016, and prior to this incident she was labelled as "caring" and diligent" in her work. But, a “cultural complacency” developed in the home in the run-up to the incident and her stands had slipped, the court heard. Mr Marsland said: "Miss Sowden did not undertake any risk assessment in relation to the needs of the service users… Nor did she ensure that any such risk assessment did take place. This is a classic case of serious negligence." Judge Stuart Smith said the facility was home to “extremely vulnerable” service users and it should have been obvious to Sowden that health and safety assessments was essential before the trip. He also added that there was insufficient consideration given to the capability of staff members, one of which could not swim, and described Sowden as “blase” about risk. Following the incident, Sowden attempted to fabricate health and safety considerations evidence, creating a fake checklist for the boat trip in an attempt to “deceive” investigators, the court heard. Sowden was ordered to pay a total of £4,090, including a £190 government surcharge and £2,000 as contribution to prosecution costs. Addressing Sowden, Judge Smith said: “"This case is nothing short of devastating… the lives of two much-loved residents, Alexander Wood and Alison Tilsley, have been lost.” "This was in no small part a direct consequence of your cavalier attitude to good health and safety practice. This incident has caused immeasurable grief to the families of Alex and Alison."