BBC You and Yours 12th August

I have just listened to ,You and Yours, which featured a piece about an elderly lady who was in hospital and whose family were told would be evicted if she did not not go to the care home placement being offered to her. This was a badly rated care home. This lady was later sexually assaulted by a member of staff. At no time did the programme pick up on one crucial piece of evidence: A secound member of staff was present, a potential whistleblower who could have spoken out at the time, (resulting in the evidence being preserved) but who did not, why? because whistleblowers are not safe.

The other issues were that the usual safeguarding  non investigation followed and the perpertrator was not suspended and continues to have access to the vulnerable. Instead of dealing with these serious issues we got a load of waffle from the ombudsman.

Poor care can happen in a poorly rated home or more often than not in a home rated good by the CQC. Lessons are never learned because there is no accountavbility and any whistle-blowing system that presumes regulators or employers will act is not only complacant but criminally negligent.

Eileen Chubb