An NHS trust has been fined £107,000 over the death of an elderly patient after he fell from a hoist while being bathed at a nursing home.

The financial penalty, plus £25,000 costs, was imposed on Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust which admitted an offence under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.

Maidstone Crown Court heard the trust had a forecast loss of £4.3 million for the current financial year.

George Titchmarsh, who was 87, suffered fatal injuries in April 2008 when he was a resident in Highsted Ward at the Frank Lloyd Nursing Home at Sittingbourne Memorial Hospital.

The World War II veteran, who suffered from dementia and chronic arthritis, slipped out of an Arjo Alenti hoist and fell to the floor, fracturing seven ribs and his collarbone.

He died the next day at Medway Maritime Hospital.

Judge Jeremy Carey said: “No financial penalty can restore Mr Titchmarsh to his family or reflect his worth in any real sense. His life was priceless to his family.

“The process of criminal justice is a poor substitute for valuing the true worth of a human being.

"They should not measure the outcome of this case against the value of the deceased.”

Prosecutor Trevor Archer said the prosecution was brought after an inquest jury found in 2012 there were failures that led to the Mr Titchmarsh’s death.

Some failings had been identified at the nursing home in 2006 when operated by Swale Primary Care NHS Trust.

As a result improvements were made. The defendant took over in January 2007.

Mr Titchmarsh was admitted to the unit in April that year. He had severe mental illness and could not bear his own body weight.

In July 2004, an alert was issued in relation to the hoist, highlighting the risk of serious injury or death through improper use and giving advice.

There was a further alert in March 2008 following a fatality when a patient slipped from such a hoist.

Two agency workers were instructed to bath Mr Titchmarsh. He slipped from the hoist after being dried by the unsupervised agency workers, who were not qualified nurses.

Mr Archer told the judge: “The risk was both foreseeable and preventable. There were systematic failings at the trust.”

Judge Carey said Mr Titchmarsh’s family expected he would be treated with care and consideration at the home, but an investigation revealed significant failings by the trust.

“It is... accepted the defendants fell far short of the standard required of competent carers"

Several failures, including shortage of permanent staff, were highlighted at the inquest in 2012.

“It is accepted by the defendants that these events and the failing to Mr Titchmarsh was foreseeable,” said the judge.

“It is also accepted the defendants fell far short of the standard required of competent carers.

“Mr Titchmarsh was a vulnerable person, which is very relevant to this case.

"Better organisation and communication would have undoubtedly meant these warnings would have had a beneficial effect and avoided that tragedy.

“There is - particularly in a world in which the ageing population grows in number - a need for reassurance that population will be cared for to a high standard.”