A HOSPITAL care worker has been jailed for six months after he assaulted an elderly patient and treated him like a “lump of meat” at Arrowe Park Hospital.

Birkenhead man Jacek Cierlinski was supposed to be giving 85-year-old Harold Jones one-to-one care after suffering a serious head injury during a fall at his home.

Mr Jones later died - but an inquest could not determine whether the assault contributed to his death.

District Judge Michael Abelson, sitting at Birkenhead magistrates’ court, said: “This case has highlighted a clear message that needs to be communicated to those in power.

“It’s incumbent on people in a position of power that hospitals have sufficient staff so that this sort of thing can’t happen.

“The difficulty in this particular case is that had there been professional staff on hand to see what was going on, this would not have happened.”

Cierlinski was employed by Complete Care Holdings as a health care assistant and was witnessed by two other patients on the ward roughly manhandling Mr Jones, slapping him on the legs and penis and shouting verbal abuse.

57-year-old Cierlinski – who moved to the UK from Poland in 2006 – had just started an 11-hour shift at the Wirral hospital on July 23 last year when he was assigned to look after Mr Jones.

He denied three charges of assault and instead blamed a lack of equipment and help.

He said he had done what he thought was right at the time because he was “desperate” to keep Mr Jones in bed and dry after he had wet himself.

Judge Abelson told Cierlinski he “didn’t believe a word” of what he said.

He said: “This was just a job. This could have been stacking shelves, working in a factory.

"You didn’t want to be there. You were hot and bothered and it was late at night.

“This poor unfortunate gentleman was 85 years of age. To you, he was just a lump of meat, he was just someone there. You didn’t know him, you didn’t know anything about his life. You didn’t care. This was just a job.”

Michael Bell, a porter at Arrowe Park , who himself had been admitted to the hospital after continuous vomiting, said: “I saw him push Mr Jones back onto the bed using both hands when he was just trying to lift himself up to sit up.”

Cierlinski said Mr Jones was heavy and unco-operative.

Mr Bell became so concerned that he began video recording on his phone.

Unfortunately, the recording was deleted after a member of staff said it was a breach of patient confidentiality guidelines and would get him into trouble.

The judge said the video was a “crucial piece of evidence” that should never have been erased and said he hoped the hospital has since "learned lessons."

A second patient, Wesley Kitchings – who was in hospital waiting for an operation the following day – said he was “absolutely disgusted” with the way Cierlinski had “dumped” Mr Jones into bed.

The court heard how Cierlinski had then moved Mr Jones’ feet so that he was lying diagonally in the bed.

He had tried to get out of bed due to his discomfort but Cierlinski raised the front section so Mr Jones’ feet were higher than his head.

He was heard saying “How are you going to get out of bed now?”

The court heard that no one else was around except one member of staff, but Mr Kitching said he got the impression she was “too scared” to do anything.

Mr Jones had been attempting to get out of bed, presumably to use the toilet, but was unable to do so and eventually wet himself.

At this point, the court heard that Cierlinski had said ‘Why have you p****d yourself?’ before smacking him on the knee and his penis.

Mr Jones was taken to hospital on July 20 last year after falling in his home and suffering a bleed on the brain. He was described as being fit and healthy until that point and still leading an active life.

He died on July 30, 2014. The Crown Prosecution Service said it could not be proven if Cierlinski’s actions had contributed to his death.

Mr Jones’ daughter Jennifer Hamilton told the court an inquest into his death had proved inconclusive.

Passing sentence, Judge Abelson concluded: “It seems to me that when there are so few qualified staff around this sort of thing can so easily happen.

"It’s not necessarily the fault of qualified staff if they are not there because they have got other duties to do.

“It’s a great pity there weren’t any hospital staff on hand to see what happened.

"It's quite clear the reason why there wasn't staff is because there are not enough staff at the hospital, there certainly weren't 12 months ago.

"One would hope the situation would have improved by now and would hope the hospital has learned valuable lessons from this highly-regrettable, upsetting and highly-avoidable serious incident caused purely and simply because you [Cierlinski] didn't care at all about this man.”

Chris Murphy, defending, told the court Cierlinski had no intention of working in the health care industry again and was now a forklift driver.

He said he sends money home to his ex-wife and two children in Poland each week to support them.

Detective inspector Paul Parry who led the Wirral CID investigation said outside court: “Jacek Cierlinski demonstrated appalling behaviour against an elderly patient entrusted to his care.

"His victim was a man who had suffered a terrible fall at home where he had laid undiscovered for several days with a serious head injury. 

"The victim and his family rightly expected the best care possible but Cierlinski’s was anything but.

"I’m grateful to the two witnesses who did the right thing and spoke out about what they saw.

"They were disgusted and appalled by his aggressive and bullying actions, which lacked the humanity that the vast majority of health care professionals pride themselves on delivering day in, day out for the benefit of their patients.”