'No one noticed for three hours'
A woman of 90 died from hypothermia after she wandered away from her care home for 16 hours.
Former nurse Margaret Titchmarsh froze to death when she disappeared on a bitterly cold night in a thin summer dress.
An investigation has revealed how the shocking failings by carers at the Holme Dene home in Halifax, West Yorks, were ultimately responsible for grandmother Mrs Titchmarsh's death.
The basement door she wandered out of had no lock on it. And staff had no system in place to count residents, which meant it took three hours to notice Margaret had gone and raise the alarm. By then it was too late.
Yesterday Margaret's son Martin said his mother's death was another example of the disturbing lack of dignity shown to elderly people in care homes across the UK.
Martin, 60, an education adviser from Royston, Cambs, said: "When my mum went missing, no one had a clue where she was.
"The home had no system to count residents. They had a penny-pinching owner who wouldn't pay for anything.
"My mum had cared for people all her life. But at the end of her own life she was not cared for properly and was let down. She deserved better... we simply must show more dignity to the elderly."
Abridged
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