Health worker died on “epic car journey” 9/4/14
Western Isles NHS Board failed to have proper or written advice for lone staff out in severe weather driving on exposed roads it was claimed at an inquiry into the death of a health worker.
Speech therapist Lorna Macdonald died after her vehicle plunged into a freshwater loch in a storm with roads flooded by torrential rain between Leverburgh and Tarbert in Harris in November 2011.
A fatal accident inquiry in Stornoway on Tuesday heard the 26-
After her death, her employer, Western Isles NHS, introduced written guidance over bad weather working, the inquiry heard.
Lorna’s manager Christine Lapsley stressed she expected her staff to be responsible for their own safety and to heed the weather conditions experienced at their own location.
She said she closed her own office in Benbecula early due to the severe conditions that day and phoned the Stornoway office at 2.30pm to suggest they may do the same.
She said: “There was nobody in the office in Stornoway so I left a message to say,
“go home-
Though the absence of staff in the office “did indicate to me that they had gone home,“ she said she did not know where Lorna was and “I assumed she was fine.”
Lorna’s jotted her itinerary alongside other staff’s schedules on an office whiteboard.
She wrote: “Ness, Point, Leverburgh -
Ms Lapsley told lawyer Angus Macdonald, who is representing Lorna’s family, there was no system in place which would warn you if one of your staff had failed to return from their journey.
She said the only system is the whiteboard where staff wrote their destination and expected time of return.
Christine Lapsley agreed with sheriff David Sutherland it relied on other staff being around to check the board and their return.
She said, in the Western Isles, “we are often told to expect bad weather and it doesn’t happen or it happens in one island but not on another.
Solicitor Angus Macdonald said the health board’s staff policy required a risk assessment for the safety of staff who work alone like Lorna and bosses were obligated to double check it was in place.
Christine Lapsley said there had not been any written risk assessment nor procedures for lone staff travelling to outlying areas in adverse weather but the risks were discussed verbally.
She added: “I don’t think they necessarily have to be written. I think they have to be understood.
She said the health board now have written procedures in place.
Ms Lapsley said: “I wouldn’t do anything different” in a repeat of the same weather conditions.
However, she said she now advises staff not to drive to patients in far-