Rising Cases of Carers Not So Caring Continued…

Following on from my colleague Zahra’s recent blog it appears that Winterbourne is not the only place where it is a case of the carers not being so caring.

I recently read about a lady who’s mother was an 89 year old dementia sufferer at the Oakfoss House in Pontefract. She suspected that something was not right after noticing bruises on her mother’s hands and her mother begging her not to leave her after visiting her. By hiding a secret camera in an alarm clock the daughter was able to prove her suspicions when two carers were caught on camera committing appalling abuse on her mother.

The film showed the 2 carers calling the pensioner ‘a horrible old lady’ and ‘a nasty old cow.’ She was also seen to be hit, shaken, sworn at and dragged across her bedroom floor clearly in agony. The two carers could also be seen administering the wrong medication to the lady’s mother.

Last week the two carers were convicted after mistreating the pensioner, one being jailed for a pitiful four months and the other unbelievably given a 12 month community order. One saving grace is that these two women have been placed on the independent safeguarding list preventing them from ever working with vulnerable adults again.

No one will ever know for just how long this elderly lady was subjected to abuse and this begs the question as to just how closely care homes are actually monitored. Stories of abuse in care homes are becoming more prevalent and it is clear that changes must be made in how such homes are run.