THE NHS trust in charge of Sheffield's hospitals has been fined £18,000 after admitting breaching health and safety legislation when a mental health patient was able to leap out of a ward window at the Northern General Hospital.
Andrew Stoker, who was being detained for a psychiatric assessment after self-harming, died three weeks after plunging from the second floor window.
Restricters which should have been in place to prevent the window opening wide enough for a person to jump out had not been properly maintained, and concerns raised by his father Ian about the situation were not acted on, Sheffield magistrates heard.
Today Mr Stoker, who watched in horror as his son plunged out of the open window, said the trust's guilty plea was what mattered most to the family.
Wearing a T-shirt with the words 'Justice for Andrew' printed on it the 58-year-old from Hebburn, Tyne and Wear, said: "For us it was when the hospital stood up in that court room and pleaded guilty – that's what made it for us. We're not concerned about the amounts of the money. They were admitting it and that's what was important."
The ruling, which also ordered Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust to pay the £15,399 costs of the case, marks the end of a battle for Ian, Andrew's mum Irene, and sister Sonja, which has lasted nearly five years.
Andrew, who suffered from paranoid schizophrenia and was also profoundly deaf, was admitted to the Northern General on May 27 2004, after he stabbed himself in the stomach and threw himself down the stairs at his home in Brimmesfield Drive, Arbourthorne.
Michael Elliker, prosecuting at Sheffield Magistrates' Court, said the incident – in which Andrew received only superficial injuries – followed a suspected overdose three days earlier, and led to the decision to keep him in hospital for a psychiatric assessment.
The 29-year-old was put in a side room of a general surgical ward, but was still waiting for the assessment more than 24 hours later.
In the meantime his father had noticed the faulty window and reported it to nursing staff.
When Andrew was finally to be seen for the assessment he "suddenly and without warning" climbed out through the open window.
Mr Elliker said: "The evidence suggests that Mr Stoker was not attempting to take his own life but that, as a consequence of his medical condition, he was attempting to 'escape' from the situation in which he found himself."
Andrew fell between 30 and 40ft and suffered serious injuries including two fractures to his spine, a split kidney and bruising to his lungs.
He died three weeks later from a perforated ulcer on June 16 – his 30th birthday.
Sentencing, District Judge Tony Browne highlighted a number of failings by the trust in relation to Andrew's case.
He said that Andrew should have been moved from the side room back to the ward following the "prophetic" concerns raised by his father about the window, and he also drew attention to an improvement notice served on the hospital a year before the tragedy.
He said the window restricters "simply were not doing what they were there to do", and added: "The trust had been alerted to the possibility following an inspection in July 2003.
"An improvement notice ordered them, among other things, to take measures to restrict the opening of all windows within an easy reach of vulnerable service users.
"There were surely failings here. These failings were that the trust failed to adequately maintain those window opening restricters, they failed to respond adequately to the requirements of an improvement notice, and they failed to implement a proper maintenance and inspection system for reporting defects in window restricters."
But he said improvements since the incident had been "vigorous".
Andrew Cash, chief executive of the trust, said: "Andrew's death was tragic and we have apologised unreservedly to his family for failing to meet the required safety standard on the ward window.
"We took immediate action to rectify this, including ensuring that restricters were in place on all windows to prevent this from happening again."
What do you think? Add your comment below.Buy The Star - Monday to Saturday - for local news, sport, features and ads. To subscribe CLICK HEREREAD MOREMain news indexYour lettersFeaturesSouth Yorkshire's environmental newsKids ZoneMore business newsMore Rotherham newsMore Doncaster newsMore Barnsley newsLatest sport