John Atkin

The court heard evidence that Millbrook expects the healthcare professionals ordering a particular piece of equipment to assess whether the service-user’s home poses any potential hazards to Millbrook’s delivery drivers, and to inform Millbrook of any such hazards when they place an order. During the course of the inquest the court heard from the two occupational therapists who were involved in prescribing and ordering the piece of equipment that Mr Atkin delivered on 23 February 2016. They told the court that they do not always assess service-users at their home addresses and do not routinely ask service-users about the presence of pets in their homes. They were not aware that they were expected to assess potential hazards to Millbrook’s delivery drivers, and said that they only passed on such information if they were aware of it. The court heard evidence that Millbrook is due to roll out a new system which will require healthcare professionals ordering equipment to specify whether or not there is a dog at a service-user’s address. The company has not carried out any consultation with its clients regarding the introduction of the new system, and whether it is realistic to expect healthcare professionals to obtain this information from their patients/clients. The court also heard evidence from an inspector at the Health and Safety Executive. As part of his investigation into Mr Atkin’s death he had carried out enquiries with the Royal Mail and a representative of the white goods industry with respect to industry practice. He told the court that members of the industry did not routinely ask in advance about potential hazards at addresses, but that it was accepted practice at both the Royal Mail and within the white good industry to have a policy in place to prevent employees from crossing the threshold into a person’s home until they had made direct contact with the homeowner. Millbrook currently operates on the basis of an inaccurate assumption that enquiries with regard to whether there are any hazardous dogs at a service-user’s address are carried out by the healthcare professionals who order the equipment from them.
- There is no policy in place at Millbrook which prevents driver/ technicians from entering a service-user’s address before they have made direct contact with the home owner. Consideration should be given to whether any steps can be taken to address the above concerns.

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