Kettering General Hospital Trust pays £300,000 compensation to staff
Thursday, January 26th, 2012Kettering General Hospital Trust has paid its staff £300,000 compensation for personal injuries sustained in accidents at work during the period 2006 to 2011.
The trust has paid out around 40 times for incidents which involved falls, slips, trips, lifting accidents, and abuse from patients. Other incidents included injuries from needles and sharp objects.
Although the trust is insured for incidents up to £10,000, its insurance excess is £10,000. As a result, every time the trust pays out they pay £10,000 minimum.
Lorene Read, chief executive of the trust, said that staff receive regular health and safety training and the trust utilises new technologies to minimise workplace incidents and accidents.
Ms Read said: “Kettering General Hospital takes staff safety very seriously indeed and we have many measures, training schemes and policies and procedures in place to prevent accidents.
“These include compulsory induction and refresher training courses in lifting and moving patients and other objects, health and safety at work training, and training around the correct use, and disposal, of syringes and needles.
“Where developments in technology improve safety we seek to adopt these – for example we are currently replacing all manually adjustable beds with electric beds to help improve safety.”
During the period 2006-2011, the trust has paid £98,000 in lifting accidents, £115,527 for slips, trips, and falls, £17,079 in needle and sharp object related incidents, a further £10,200 for physical and mental strain, £10,000 due to matters of an environmental nature, £6,171 for electrical exposure, and other hazardous substances, and £5,052 due to abuse suffered from patients. A further £50,461 was spent on miscellaneous accidents.