A Morden care home where an elderly woman was so seriously burned that her skin became stuck to a radiator has been fined almost £25,000.

Kathleen Walters, 79, fell over and came into prolonged contact with an uncovered radiator in her en-suite bedroom at the Manor House Residential Home in London Road in November 2015.

Mrs Walters, who has dementia and speech difficulties, was found on the floor at 8.20am, over an hour after she had last been seen.

Her skin was found stuck to the radiator, and she had a large burn on her back.

Mrs Walters’ injuries on her back and side required skin grafts, and covered seven per cent of her total body surface area.

The registered providers of care at Manor House, married couple Dudley and Helene Sessford, were prosecuted by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

They pleaded guilty to failing to provide safe care and treatment resulting in avoidable harm to a resident of the home, and were ordered to pay £24,600 in fines and costs by Highbury Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday, February 1.

In its last CQC inspection in May 2016, Manor House was rated as ‘good’ in every category except from being well-led, where it received a rating of ‘requires improvement’.

CQC’s deputy chief inspector of adult social care, Debbie Ivanova, said: “This incident was entirely avoidable.

“The risk of people sustaining serious burns from uncovered radiators is something all care homes should be aware of. Mrs Walters was known to be at high risk of falling over.

“The registered provider failed in its duty to ensure that care and treatment was provided in a safe way, and as a result Mrs Walters was seriously burned.

“When serious incidents occur, we now have additional powers to hold providers to account in the courts.

“In future, if we find that a care provider has put people in its care at risk of harm, we will always consider using those powers to the full to prosecute those who are responsible.”