Angry family of dementia sufferer say he was "treated like a dog" at care home
The angry family of a dementia sufferer says he was "treated like a dog" at a failing care home.
Gordon Wallace's family claim he was left in ill-fitting clothes and with straggly hair while in the Drummohr Nursing Home in East Lothian. Grandson Callum Houston said the 75-year-old's room was left covered in rubbish after what the home described as a "deep clean". The 32-year-old's complaint comes after it was reported that inspectors passed a damning report in the care home after finding residents underweight and unwashed.
Callum, who snapped pictures of the messy care home, said: "He’s worked all his days, paid his taxes and now he’s been treated like a dog. Every time we went to visit him he was dressed like a tramp. Also, his nails were long and they would change his medication without informing the family."
"When we went to see him he kept complaining about the care he was getting. It's so sad honestly."
And now his family claim the care home threw Gordon out after they complained about conditions – an allegation denied by the home.
Callum says they turfed him out for being violent – despite a subsequent assessment finding no such concerns. He added: "He was getting dirty and scruffy and we made various complaints to management."
"We complained about him not getting his haircut and that he’d lost all his clothes. He was sitting in clothes that weren’t fitting him."
Former scaffolder Gordon, from Musselburgh, East Lothian was initially in Levenhall Care Home but was transferred to Drummohr after it closed in February.
Callum said: "He went to the previous care homes and there were no problems. But every time we were going into Drummohr, we were complaining about it – about three times a week. The next thing we know, they said he’s violent and that they’re removing him."
Gordon has since been admitted to hospital in Bonnyrigg, Midlothian, where medics have found no such problems with his behaviour – but the stigma remains. Callum added: "When a care home says a resident is violent, none of the others want him because they look for the previous care home’s report."
"I don't think they liked the amount of times we went to visit him as we went all the time. He's still in hospital and he has been there for months. No other care home wants him, they have tarnished his name. We don't want him to go somewhere far away because we will struggle to see him as much."
Callum says his family is now fighting to stop his grandad getting "palmed off" to Berwick-upon-Tweed which would mean fewer visits from loved ones. A spokeswoman for home owners HC-One said: "The health, happiness, and well-being of our residents is, and always will be, our number one priority. As such, we always take complaints from their loved ones very seriously."
"We have a robust process in place to make sure complaints are handled appropriately, which includes the ability to directly email both our CEO and Chairman. We are sorry to hear Mr Wallace’s family feel dissatisfied with the services we provided, and that we fell short of the standards we aspire to and they rightly expect.
"This is not the experience of the vast majority of the families we serve, which is why our home is rated none out of ten on the independent care home comparison website, carehome.co.uk.
"We, of course, recognise the outcome of the recent Care Inspectorate review and know we need to do better in some other areas, although we are pleased the report does highlight we have made very significant positive progress in recent months."
Author: Arthur Vundla
© South West News Service