ST HELENS and Knowsley Hospitals Trust have paid an out-of-court settlement to a former employee who had to leave her job after suffering permanent back damage while lifting a patient.

Sixty-year-old Pat Richards was working as a care assistant at Whiston Hospital, a position she had received six months training for, when she was transferred to a dressing clinic and asked to help lift a limbless patient. However, the lift caused permanent disc damage and has left her in constant pain ever since.

The mother-of-one told the Star: "I have worked for the hospital for 17 years, 16 of them in the linen room looking after hospital laundry. But I always wanted to be a nurse and it was only family commitments that prevented me earlier in life.

"I started training to become a care assistant but I hadn't been given enough training on lifting patients and the damage to my back was so bad that I had no choice but to leave work. I used to enjoy dancing and going for walks with my husband Billy but I can't do either now and find it very difficult to get around at all." Pat decided to take action against the authority through her trade union Unison. Her lawyer Gill Owen of Liverpool-based Thompsons Solicitors, who specialise in industrial injuries, said: "Pat had not received proper training in lifting techniques and was allowed, with another care assistant, to use a 'drag lift' technique which has been widely criticised and banned from usage."

Carol Freeman, a spokeswoman for the Hospitals Trust, said: "On the basis of supervision, Mrs Richards has been awarded a settlement and further benefit payments following an out-of-court agreement.

"Every member of staff is expected to do a risk assessment before lifting patients and thorough training is given to all staff before they are allowed on the wards. The welfare of our staff is as important to us as the patients and we do not want anyone to injure themselves.

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