HC-One Fined £1.9m for Inverness Care Home Resident's Death

HC-One Limited, operator of the Cradlehall Care Home in Inverness, was fined nearly £2 million after a 96-year-old resident, Margaret Campbell, choked to death while eating unsupervised, despite a care plan requiring close supervision due to her choking risk. On June 11, 2022, Campbell was left alone for 20 minutes during her meal of macaroni and chips when staff were distracted by other residents and staffing shortages, including reliance on agency workers and an 18-year-old carer. Sheriff Robert Frazer emphasized the seriousness of the offence, noting this was HC-One's fifth conviction in six years related to deaths in their Scottish care homes, although he did not blame the individual carers involved. The court acknowledged HC-One's culpability at a medium level and recognized the company had faced a staffing crisis partly due to Covid-19. The prosecution highlighted that the tragic death could have been prevented with a safe system of work ensuring appropriate supervision during meals, reinforcing the need for care homes to protect residents and be held accountable for failures. HC-One expressed sympathy for the family and noted all civil claims had been settled promptly.