A NURSE nurse who was hurt in a fall at a major hospital’s accident and emergency department is suing a health authority for £350,000 compensation.
Kathleen McLeish was preparing to show visiting consultants a resuscitation room when she fell.
The emergency nursing practitioner told a court that she came down with “a thud” on the floor and banged into a trolley. She fractured her wrist in the incident at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary and later underwent surgery for external fixation and developed complex regional pain syndrome.
Ms McLeish, 60, from Aberlady in East Lothian, subsequently raised an action against Lothian NHS Board seeking £350,000 damages.
She told the Court of Session in Edinburgh that on June 10, 2011, she was showing some visitors around a resuscitation room. She saw a domestic was in one of the rooms and said: “I was aware she had been dry sweeping.”
Ms McLeish said she asked if she minded if they came in. “She said ‘no’ and I immediately walked into the room,” she said. She said she turned to speak to the visitors when she suddenly fell.
An accompanying doctor said ‘look the floor is damp all the way up under there’,” she said. She added it appeared “streaky”. She told her counsel, Leo Hofford, QC, that she had not noticed it and that there was no “wet floor” sign.
Her retirement age was 66 but the court heard one expert believed she will be unable to continue work beyond 61. The health authority is contesting the action and in its pleadings maintained that any loss was her fault or she contributed to it.
The hearing before Lord Mulholland continues.
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