Can you help me? I went to hospital in August for an outpatient appointment. At the time the hospital had only just opened, and I wasn’t sure of my way around. I parked in one of the car parks and was trying to find my way to the main entrance to the hospital, when I tripped and fell on rubbish which had not been cleared away. I fell really heavily on my right arm and suffered a fracture to my right wrist and elbow, which needed an operation to put right. There has been a lot of publicity in the paper about the poor cleanliness of the hospital – do I have a claim against them?
The hospital has a duty to ensure their premises are clean and safe and that rubbish is cleared away into appropriate bins so far as is reasonably practicable, in accordance with the The Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 and the Occupiers Liability Act. There must be in place an adequate system of cleaning and inspection to maintain a safe environment not only for patients of the hospital but for any visitor or employee who comes onto the site.
The newspaper reports indicated the cleaning contractors were to blame stating that they had “teething problems” and the Chief Executive stated he would be “monitoring the improvements”.
Your claim would be against the hospital as it is they who should ensure their premises are safe even if they contracted the work out to a cleaning company.
It would seem likely that there was a system in place, but it wasn’t being followed which resulted in rubbish accumulating all around the hospital.
It is very likely you will have a good claim for your injury and you should seek urgent legal advice.
