The family of a 77-year-old woman who suffers from dementia has claimed that she was ‘neglected’ while living at a care home in Yorkshire.
Jeanette Clayton and Lisa Burkinshaw say they raised their concerns about their mum Rita with Abbey Grange Care and Nursing Home, in Sheffield, and with the Care Quality Commission.
The two women said their mum suffered falls and bruising to her face while at the home, and they claimed she was wet from her own urine on several occasions during visits.
Jeanette has released several photographs of her mum at the home, including pictures of her sitting in what appears to be an uncomfortable position, with her head resting on her knees. Another photo shows Rita with bruising on her face.
The family’s concerns were aired in a report by Sky News that can be seen here. Jeanette said her mum moved into the care home in September 2021 and moved out around 18 months after the family asked for her to be moved, having initially raised concerns about her care around six months after she had moved in.
Jeanette told YorkshireLive that she had visited her mum on several occasions and found her “wet through and urine rising up her T-shirt”.
Jeanette said she had asked staff when her mum had last had a shower because she was ‘smelling’. Jeanette claimed the chairs in the home were ‘urine soaked’ which she noticed having sat down herself and got wet trousers.
Jeanette said she had complained to the home and said she had asked the local authority to move her mum. It took around 18 months before her mum was moved, she added. Rita, a former pub landlady, recently celebrated her 77th birthday having been moved to another care home.
According to the CQC, the care home was inspected in July 2022 and was found to be ‘good’.
The CQC report said: “We undertook this targeted inspection to check on a specific concern we had about the management of incidents, staffing and the eating and drinking support people received. The overall rating for the service has not changed following this targeted inspection and remains good.”
The report also said: “People received safe care. Plans were put in place to reduce risk relating to people’s health and safety, and staff understood how to protect people from the risk of harm.
“There were enough staff available to keep people safe and incidents and accidents were well-managed. People were supported to maintain a balanced diet, with their choice and dietary preferences central to this.”
A second family, who were not named, told Sky News their relative stayed in the home between 2022 and 2023 and had ‘dirty clothes’ and an ‘unclean smell’ when they visited and was sitting in “poo that was dried on”.
A spokesperson for Country Care, which runs the home, declined to comment on the allegations.
In a statement, the Alzheimer’s Society said that the care system is not set up to meet the needs of those with dementia, with some staff lacking the skills to do the job.
Jennifer Keen, Head of Policy at Alzheimer’s Society, said: “Dementia is the UK’s biggest killer. There are 900,000 people living with dementia in the UK, and although the majority of people who draw on adult social care have dementia, the social care system is not currently set up properly to meet their needs.
“Decades of underfunding by successive governments has resulted in dementia care that is costly, difficult to access, and too often not personalised.
“Not all care staff have the understanding and skills in the specific care needs of someone living with dementia. For example, someone may find communication difficult because they can’t find the right word or follow a conversation. As dementia is terminal and a progressive condition, these communication difficulties will worsen over time and leave many people struggling to express their needs.
“Care staff need training that enables them to understand the challenges people with dementia can face and to learn skills that can support effective communication.
“We need to move towards a new way of approaching care for future generations. It’s vital that the social care system is underpinned by a sustainable funding model which pools the risk of care costs, improves support for family carers and allows for the development of an ambitious social care workforce strategy to ensure a skilled and supported workforce, with the needs of people who are living with dementia at its heart.
“High-quality, personalised care can make a huge difference to people living with dementia, and we urgently need to see a strategy backed by investment to make this a reality.”
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