Care home pensioners ‘left dying in their chair’
May 20 2008 by Daily Post
A NURSE claims she was branded a “troublemaker” after she raised fears about standards of care in a nursing home, an employment tribunal heard yesterday.
Sarah Lees says she was so worried about the way residents were treated at the Abbey Dale House nursing home in Colwyn Bay that she called police.
She walked out from her job as nurse in charge at the home in Princes Drive last May, after making a raft of allegations.
Claiming constructive dismissal at the tribunal in Abergele yesterday, Miss Lees said matters came to a head in May, when she says two elderly residents had not been changed.
Two carers “reluctantly” changed one woman, she said, but she claimed the other resident, a man, was left unchanged and his room smelled of urine and faeces.
Miss Lees, from Denbigh, said she also noticed one stroke victim had been given a piece of cake and not had his drink thickened, both of which she says could have caused him to choke.
She eventually called police last spring, alleging two deaths at the home had been “mis-managed” as staff and GPs were not informed before the undertaker arrived.
Ms Lees had worked at the home for almost four years.
Police informed the local coroner about Miss Lees’s fears that proper procedures to report the deaths had not been followed, the tribunal heard.
And in turn the coroner, notified the Care Standards Inspectorate for Wales (CSIW).
But when home owner Clive Nadin found out he “ranted and raved”, Miss Lees told the tribunal.
When the CSIW was notified by the coroner, Miss Lees said Mr Nadin accused her of being a “troublemaker and faultfinder” and other members of staff then “blanked” her.
Asked by Mr Lee Bronze, for Mr Nadin, why she had never reported any examples of abuse, Miss Lees replied: “When somebody’s pad is not changed – isn’t that abuse?”
The hearing continues and representatives of the home are due to appear as witnesses.
Abridged
SOURCE: DailyPostUK
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The above was posted on 26 May 2008. I've just received the following update from the owner of that nursing home.
"I am the owner of Abbey Dale House Nursing Home in Colwyn Bay, North Wales. I employed a nurse, Sarah Lees, who subsequently left my home, and made a number of allegations against me, 3 other nurses, and 5 care assistants at my home. All of the allegations were investigated independently by the Care & Social Services Inspectorate Wales (CSSIW), and NO evidence whatsoever was found to support ANY of her allegations.
The home has subsequently been inspected by the CSSIW, and the report is extremely complimentary. It is available on the CSSIW website. I also have a copy of the Investigation report conducted by CSSIW, that clears the home entirely.
Subsequently to this, she has worked at another home, where she made allegations against two nurses.
Miss Lees is now under investigation by the CSSIW herself. She has been dismissed from at least two homes that we know about at present.
In my mind, it is only fair that both sides of a case are aired. I would be grateful if you would publish the contents of this e-mail on your blog."
Clive Nadin
Proprietor
Abbey Dale House
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1 comment:
My experience with local nursing homes in the Colwyn Bay area is one of great disatisfaction.
My elderly & physically frail though mentally alert mother spent just 6 days at this very home recently & had to leave a day early because she was feeling so unsafe & not well.
Mum was well when she entered the home but on leaving her legs were massively swollen & covered in loose skin.She infromed me & the "authorities" that she was left from about 9am to 10pm in an upright position all day, with no access to a recliner chair & that her complaints of leg pain fell on deaf ears.
Mum also complained about the quality & quantity of food available or rather the lack of both.
Mum, before accepting this nursing home for 1 week respite was also assured by the manager: Katie Mosedale that only a small proportion of the other occupants were either denetia sufferers/serious stroke victims but actually during mums stay NONE of the other occupants were able to communicate with mum due to their disablement.
So, despite what Mr Nadin says it seems there is no smoke without fire with regard to this home & Iam now of the view that there are serious problems with nursing home care throughout the whole of the UK & that consistently good ones are a rareity.
With regard to Mr Nadins comment about the Cssiw clearing his home.
Well, that's sadly not the case as the cssiw have consistently shown themselves incapable of regulating the care home/agency industry & would rather tolerate low standards rather than shut the offenders down.
There are a number of poorly performing care homes in the area but the cssiw refuses to close them down, but WHY? You could say that this so-called regulator is too close with social services who want to maintain a certain number of care places irrespective of the quality of those places, so sadly corruption rears it's ugly head here - a sickening state of affairs.
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