Safeguarding Shambles 2

SAFEGUARDING SHAMBLES CASE TWO.

The following account is a family’s experience in a care home and the Safeguarding Authority’s failure to act. It should also be noted that this home is one of those involved in the CQC registration scam.

The Witness Evidence.

“Dear Eileen I would like to share my mom’s story of her terrible care in Morris Care centre, Wellington, Telford Shropshire.
She moved to this home on 21/07/17. She had C.O.P.D. She was no longer able to look after herself so it was decided she needed palliative care due to her poor breathing. My mom chose that care home and myself and my brother were pleased with it.

On my mom’s first night in the home she had to ring my brother at around 11pm asking him to ring the home to ask them to go to see to see to her as she had been pressing the buzzer but no one came. My brother did ring the home and staff then went to attend to mom, mom said it was maybe a one off and give them a chance.

The home had a good CQC rating so at first we were happy with it. On the 22/7/17 Morris care had a beach theme day, my two children who are in the Army were both on leave, so we surprised mom, their nan and all went up to the home for the day. They played music and had food and we all had a wonderful day with our mom who was singing and having a wonderful time with her daughter, granddaughter and grandson. My mom had been in the home two days at this point.

It was my husband’s birthday that day so we had plans to go out that same evening and my brother was going to visit my mom that evening. Later that evening I had a text from my brother saying mom had a fall that night and hit her head, cut her shoulder and arm. Mom had pressed her buzzer to get dressed for bed and she needed help from staff to use the toilet and when staff did not come to her she tried to manage on her own.

On the 25/7/17 I took my mom to a meeting about her COPD condition, they said she would not get any better and should be treated at the care home as she may never leave hospital if she went in. My mom was tiny, around four and a half stone and had difficulty breathing.

On the 26/7/17 I spoke to my mom’s former nurse Mira who used to visit my mom when she lived at her bungalow. Mira went to visit my mom at Morris care and Mira found that my mom’s buzzer had been moved out of her reach Mira spoke to staff at the home who then moved the buzzer back.

My mom did not want to stay at Morris Care because when she buzzed for help staff did not come to her and she was not happy, but my brother and I were not happy at the thought of her being at home alone, she had had a bad fall and was not able to do much for herself.

28/07/17 Moms legs very swollen up, very bad today.

29/7/17 My brother went to visit mom today and he sent me pictures, her legs very swollen, black and blistered and they are hurting her.

31/7/17 I spoke to a nurse called Lucy at Morris care, I told her my mom’s in agony and they said a doctor will be out the following day. Mom was just left to wait in agony.

1/8/17 A doctor finally came out to mom today she has to go on anti-biotics to kill infection but needs to wait for a prescription. When I saw moms legs they were so very swollen and had a massive blister on her right foot which just burst everywhere they changed dressing twice in three hours. Everything was soaking wet with discharge fluid just pouring out. My brother turned up to see mom after work and I was still there and staff had to clean mom up again as her foot was pouring with discharge fluid again. I had to leave the room as I thought I would pass out.
My brother stayed with my mom who by now had a massive blood clot on her foot. The nurse said she would monitor this and get a doctor if needed. We trusted them.

2/8/17 I rang my mom who told me she was still waiting for the anti-biotics prescribed yesterday. It’s absolutely disgusting that she is still waiting for these tablets when she is in such a mess. I rang the home about the tablets they said they were going to get them.

For the next three days I rang mom, she was very out of breath so we did not speak much.

6/8/17 I went to the home to visit my mom and her other foot had now burst with discharge fluid pouring from it. I went to get a nurse to see to mom. I stayed near the home in Telford that night as I live in Stoke on Trent an hour from the home and wanted to visit mom the next morning. Myself and my brother were also emptying my mom’s bungalow at this time and visiting mom in between work and sorting her bungalow out.

7/8/17 I went to see mom and she was in good spirits and had seen some friends and family. It was nice to see her smile.

10/8/17 I rang my mom from stoke and she was in absolute agony, I had been keeping a diary and that’s why I am so clear on all the dates.

Between 10/8/17 and 20/8/17 my brother and I visited and witnessed my mom pressing her buzzer for assistance and on average waiting 20 to 30 minutes for someone to come. My mom was embarrassed to ask us to help her onto the commode. But sometimes we had to help her as she could not wait any longer. Mom asked me and my brother to wait outside whilst she used the commode and she would call us when she had finished.
I had to ask a nurse to empty the commode on one occasion as it was full and beginning to smell. The nurse said she would come to empty it but did not come back for an hour.
Every time we went to see mom I kept going to the nurse’s station to say how wet mom’s bandages were and the smell by now was absolutely horrific. It’s a smell I have never encountered before or since. I kept saying to them there must be something wrong with her legs they shouldn’t smell like that.

20/8/17 rang mom she could not talk too tired.

21/8/17 Rang mom again she could not speak too tired.

23/8/17 Myself my brother and his wife all went to see mom to surprise her by all going to visit together. We arrived at Morris care at around 2pm and found mom slumped in her chair, a chair she said she had slept in for two weeks. Mom was in absolute agony we were all shocked to walk in and find mom in such a state. Her hand and elbow were extremely swollen and red. Mom had asked staff for a doctor and they said they were waiting for a call from a doctor.
By 3pm my brother went to see the nurse who told him a doctor will definite call back and they are still waiting. By 4 pm I went to the nurse’s station and the manager of the home was sat on a chair messing about on her mobile phone. I asked her to please help my mom as she is in agony, she said a doctor would definite call back.
We decided to act ourselves as no doctor had rung, my mom was crying saying her arm hurt so much and she felt like her feet had something crawling inside them. My mom said “I don’t want to live anymore I can’t stand the pain”

It was absolutely terrible. I stayed with my mom while my brother went outside to get help. My brother rang 111 they could not help so he rang the doctor in wellington and got no reply. He rang 999 who said they could not help if it was not life threatening. My brother said he did not know if it was life threatening. My brother then spoke to some paramedics who said they would send someone out but not as an emergency.
My brother and I then spoke to the nurses in the hall and asked them why mom had a picture of a flower on her door and they said she had MRSA in her throat. We asked them why they had not called us about this before and asked why they had not called us to say about moms arms being so swollen and that she was in such pain, they said they had not thought.

We said to them that lady in there may not be important to you but she is to us that’s our mom. Her legs need changing the bandages are soaking wet and smell terrible it’s not right.
A nurse came to do the bandages I left the room as I did not want to pass out my brother stayed with my mom and took pictures. I was very upset hearing my mom crying in agony inside the room, it was terrible.

The paramedics arrived at 7pm that evening to check moms arm. My brother showed themed pictures of my mom’s legs taken when her bandages were removed. They were shocked and said she needs to go to hospital now.
My brother explained he was worried as at an earlier meeting with moms doctor for COPD in July the doctor had said she needs to be treated in the care home, the paramedic replied “ Yes but they are not treating her here are they?”

My brother and I spoke and agreed I should return home to Stoke and he would go to the hospital with my mom and let me know what was happening.
My sister in law had gone home to see to their two dogs and was going to join my brother at the hospital.

I did my hour journey home to stoke relieved that mom was finally going to be looked after and helped. I got home around 8,30 pm and waited for my brothers call.

My brother rang around 10pm that night to say they had removed mom’s bandages on her legs and found live maggots in her foot. The hospital were horrified at the state of her and filmed this as evidence. They got other doctors and nurses in to look because they said they had never seen anything so bad before. We were told mom needed anaesthetic to clean her foot and she had to have surgery on 25/8/17.
The hospital said her arm was due to cellulitis and the hospital reported the home for the state of her legs.
On the 24/8/17 my brother rang the authority’s to say Mom was never going back to that home.
My brother and I lodged a formal complaint about mom’s treatment at Morris care with Safeguarding.
The Safeguarding board at first seemed to be horrified at the events; my brother went to the Safeguarding board at Telford to give them photos and video evidence.
My brother also went to the home to clear mom’s room and took photos of the commode which was still full and unemptied. The carpet in her room was still wet and soaked in the discharge from her legs.

Women called Kathy George went to the home the same day an hour after my brother had photographed the room. She looked at my mom’s records and confirmed the state of the room.

25/8/17 I arrived at the hospital on the day of my mom’s surgery and was told she would be another hour, she was having surgery to remove the maggots and dead and rotting flesh. Several hours later and mom was still not out and my brother came to relieve me and wait.
My brother went to see her and called me to say her feet are a lot smaller as they had to remove most of her feet.

26/8/17 I spoke to hospital staff who said mom was sick and struggling with her breathing.

27/8/17 I was at work, I work nights and I got a call from the hospital at 2am saying I need to get there ASAP as mom was very bad. I drove the most terrible journey of my life and arrived to find my brother there as he lives nearer and mom just lay in the hospital bed weak and sleepy. I got to my mom’s bedside not long before she took her last breath. She passed away at 3-13 on 27/8/17.

We stayed with mom sometime it was all a bit of a blur. We were obviously very upset with with Morris care they should have helped mom sooner. Mom was meant to pass away from the condition COPD and had not.

30/8/17 My brother went to get moms death certificate and learnt that she had died from, septicaemia bilateral infected foot wound.

Sometime later the Local Authority Safeguarding board looked into my mom’s case and concluded there was no neglect just a delay in administering pain relief.
My brother asked what about the maggots?
Kathy George said they had probably hatched in the ambulance on the way to the Princess Royal hospital. This was a ten minute drive from the home.

This is absolutely wrong these authorities are meant to be looking out for people like my mom not taking the care homes side. What about the other people in this home and their family’s? Who are people meant to turn to when the safeguarding team won’t act and wont deal with the evidence in front of them?
We have photos and videos which are proof. We want our moms story’s to be told because if we can save one person and their family from harm and heartbreak then we have done something right. We are devastated to have lost our mom, but to have lost her in the way we have is just so very very wrong.

Morris care centre were awarded a gold standard award in October 2017 just two months after my mom’s death. I was extremely angry to see the smiling face of the home manager receiving a gold award in the Shropshire star newspaper, the same manager I begged to get help for my mom and who just carried on fiddling on her phone and couldn’t be bothered to get a doctor or anyone to help. It’s just so wrong. I am being my mom’s voice as she is no longer able to speak. If my brother and I can help one family by telling moms story it will be enough.
Not only did my mom suffer such a terrible death that should never have happened like that, but her family and friends suffered also.
The right people were told about this home and should have closed it down.
I hope by telling our story it will help others. Morris care do not deserve any awards or the CQC good rating they have. We saw what happened to our mom and its wrong, terrible and shocking. It could have been prevented and now it is too late.
We release this story and the photos to Compassion in Care to expose this scandal. “

MY COMMENTS

The Safeguarding investigation concluded there was only an issue relating to delay in pain relief being administered. The photos show quite clearly that this is not an issue of pain relief but an issue of pain inflicted. The condition this poor lady was in is not something you should ever encounter in a modern nursing home, it is gross negligence. The condition this lady was left in is more akin to conditions in a battlefield hospital pre Florence Nightingale.
How can any safeguarding investigation conclude that its ok to have maggots in badly infected rotting flesh as long as the maggots hatched in the ambulance? I would have investigated why some ones legs can be in such a state in the first place.

I think most people would if they opened a fridge and smelt something bad, would automatically investigate the source of the smell. How can a care home consistently ignore such a smell from a human being and do nothing?

My report on Edna’s Law will include this case and many others that lay bare the Safeguarding process for what it is, a defence mechanism for bad care providers that ignores evidence in order to justify abuse.

I also note that this is the second case in a week where those responsible for the most dreadful care, are both fully trained and actively training other staff. I would point this out again to charities such as The Relatives and Residents association who recently advocated training as the answer to all bad care. The evidence we have fully contradicts this.

There are far too many individuals working in both care and in safeguarding who are accepting of abuse and see nothing wrong when clearly everything is wrong.

Yes this case did, like many others make me weep and the day I stop weeping is the day I stop campaigning. All those responsible for these failures and for failing to act on these failures should hang their heads in shame.

Eileen Chubb©