THE family of an elderly woman who died after falling at a care home have welcomed the sentence handed down to the company in charge of the home.

Charlotte Wood, 95, from Mottingham, died days after falling from a hoist used to lift her out of a bath, at Abbotsleigh Mews Residential and Nursing Home, in Sidcup.

A judge fined BUPA Care Homes Ltd £90,000 and ordered it to pay £19,247 in costs for breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act, at Southwark Crown Court, in London.

In a statement, Mrs Wood’s son, Geoff, said: "My mother was a much loved and central part of our family and her loss was a great blow to us all.

"My sister and I and the rest of our family are all relieved that these proceedings have been completed quickly as a result of BUPA’s guilty plea and that we can now put the tragic circumstances of my mother’s death behind us and move on."

The court heard that only one care worker, Elaine Hutton, had been with Mrs Wood when she fell, which was against the home’s own safety guidelines.

Mrs Hutton did not report the accident, on November 28, 2003, until Mrs Woods was admitted to hospital hours later with a broken shoulder. She died of pneumonia in hospital, on December 2, 2003.

Following the incident, the manager of the care home resigned from her job, Mrs Hutton was dismissed by BUPA and another carer was disciplined.

BUPA had originally pleaded not guilty but changed its plea to guilty as the trial was about to start.

Oliver Thomas, regional director of BUPA Care Homes, said: "We accept that in this case we unfortunately failed to meet our own high standards and we would like to apologise to the family of Charlotte Woods for this."

The company has since introduced measures with the aim of preventing a similar incident from happening again.

* Full story in next week's Bexley and Bromley Extra.