Bedroom ban for smokers in residential care

Published: 27 May 2010
by JOSIE HINTON

SMOKING has been banned in bedrooms across Camden’s care homes following the horrific death of a resident in a Gospel Oak home who set himself alight with a cigarette.

The move follows the death of Alex Andrews, 68, who died after a cigarette fell into his lap and set his clothes on fire at the Wellesley Road Home for Older People.

Police believe Mr Andrews had fallen asleep in his chair when the cigarette fell from his mouth and started the blaze in his bedroom shortly after midnight on February 20. 

He suffered 80 per cent burns and died around eight hours later from multiple-organ failure. 

This was the second fire fatality at the Gospel Oak care home. A disabled man died in 1991 after a cigarette set his bedroom alight.

At an inquest into Mr Andrews’s death at St Pancras Court on Monday, staff recalled the moment the pensioner ran from his room engulfed in flames.

Chidinma Ifezulike, a night care assistant, said: “I saw Alex coming towards me and he was on fire. He was standing up and just saying ‘I’m burning, I’m burning’. I was trying to push him but the fire was too much and I couldn’t touch him. The situation was terrifying and I didn’t know what to do.”

While Ms Ifezulike called emergency ser­vices, two more staff members managed to get Mr Andrews into the bathroom where they started dousing the flames with water. 

Police and fire-fighters arrived shortly afterwards and started evacuating residents. Police found a charred towel in Mr Andrews’ room, suggesting he tried to put out the flames before leaving his room. 

As a smoker, Mr Andrews had been issued with a large ashtray, which police found on a table near the right arm of his chair.

During the inquest, Camden’s policy of allowing residents to smoke in their bedrooms was scrutinised. At the time of Mr Andrews death, he had been subject to a risk assessment and, after being deemed safe to do so, was issued with fire retardant bed linen. 

The inquest heard he was due to be re-assessed in December 2009, but staff could provide no evidence that had taken place.  

Sue Heiser, head of residential services in Camden, said: “It’s really hard to get the balance right to allow people to do what they want in their bedrooms while being mindful of other residents’ safety.”

Only three residents in the Wellesley Road home were allowed to smoke in their bedrooms at the time of Mr Andrews’ death and all rooms are fitted with smoke detectors, she added.

Questions were also raised over the care home’s evacuation plan, but fire investigator ­Brian Howes said the procedures “seemed adequate for the situation”.

He said: “In a building like this it can be more hazardous to take people outside into the cold. The disruption is more upsetting for these kinds of residents than anything else. 

“I believe the staff did the best they could at the time. To be met with a burning individual and having nothing to hand to extinguish the flames, there is not a lot they could do.”

The court heard that smoking is now banned in all indoor areas at Wellesley Road and residents smoking in the garden are supervised. 

Camden Council has also banned smoking in bedrooms across its homes, although in all but the Gospel Oak home there are designated indoor smoking areas.

Coroner Dr Andrew Reid recorded a verdict of accidental death.