NHS admits breaching laws ahead of pensioner's death in 12ft scooter fall

The Health and Safety Executive is prosecuting NHS Litigation for a breach of rules after Benjamin Withers fell 12ft and died from severe head injuries.

Jurors at an inquest recorded a verdict of accidental death following the incident at Fareham Health Centre in 2012.

Shaken witnesses wept at the grandfather’s inquest as they relived the tragic incident and efforts to save him.

And it was revealed that vital maintenance on a “decaying” walkway was scheduled 19 times and eventually cancelled before the tragic incident.

Mr Withers, known as John, died after sustaining severe head injuries and photographs at the scene show smashed glass and a wooden frame strewn across the ground next to the damaged mobility scooter.

Samantha Kain was outside when Mr Withers fell.

At the inquest she said: “I was screaming and two security guards came over and the next thing I knew a nurse had come out and started to work.

“He landed head first with the mobility scooter behind him.”

The medical centre was then owned by NHS Hampshire and let out to NHS Portsmouth, but these bodies were abolished in 2013.

The NHS Litigation Authority has taken on criminal litigation for the abolished health bodies.

Health and Safety Executive inspector Michael Baxter completed a report revealing that maintenance work on the rotten wooden and glass panel was originally planned for May 27 but was rescheduled four times in November 2011, twice the following month, and a further twelve times in 2012 before being cancelled in June that year.

He told the inquest: “The glass was seven millimetres thick and was strengthened but it was found that the wooden frame was in a poor condition - the wood was very badly decayed and rotten.

“Decay in the lower section was so bad that all structural integrity of the wood had been lost. An annual inspection would have identified the extend of the decay of the wood.

The NHS will be sentenced on December 16.