Care worker mocks elderly dementia patient, calls him 'drama queen' as he lay in his own feces
A care worker has been terminated from her job after she was caught calling an elderly dementia patient a "drama queen" while he lay helpless in his own excrement in bed.
The incident took place at Lyndhurst Park Nursing Home in Weston-super-Mare when the care worker with blonde hair was cleaning up the 87-year-old Michael Pearce. As she cleaned up the old man, he was being told "that's very clever" as the carer jokes that someone needs to take a picture.
The incident was captured in a hidden camera that was placed by Ian Moss, the senior's nephew. In the clip, the worker says: "Oh my God, oh my God" and then, "I think we need to take a photo". The worker can also be heard saying to Pearce "you are such a drama queen". She also makes remarks, like "there is something seriously wrong with this man".
According to Bristol Live, the shameful incident happened when Pearce was cleaned up by the worker and a colleague almost 40 minutes after a member of staff told them he had accidentally soiled himself.
Talking about the incident, Moss said, “We were horrified when we saw what was happening. We had hours of footage and, in every single clip, there was something which was not quite right. Everything about his care there was an issue."
Gordon Butcher, who runs the care home, said that the language used was by the care worker was inappropriate and abusive. Butcher added that the second worker who was helping the blonde one in the video was also "severely reprimanded" for failing to report the incident.
"We were devastated to observe the covert video footage of an incident where one of our care assistants was seen verbally abusing a resident and seemingly failed to provide the resident with reassurance when they were distressed. This is not a standard of care and behavior that will be tolerated in our home. We immediately removed the employee from her post," he added.
Butcher also mentioned that after the incident, an investigation was done by statutory partners which confirmed it was an "isolated incident" and the standard of nursing care at the home, which specializes in dementia care, was good.
“We had four inspections by the LA safeguarding, compliance and CCG safeguarding. Naturally, these statutory agencies had to ensure, without doubt, that the behavior shown on the video was not repeated elsewhere or involved any other resident," he said.
“Lyndhurst Park openly invited such intense inspections, as it was important to us all that this behavior was seen as unprecedented within the walls of Lyndhurst Park. After two months of scrutiny, the multiple agencies were satisfied that the care at Lyndhurst was safe and apart from the footage on the video, no other evidence of poor practice was found and the safeguarding case closed.” “The member of staff was dismissed and another severely reprimanded, mainly for while being intermittently present during the 23 minutes of care they failed to whistleblow,” Butcher added.
Though Butcher accepted the lack of care in the incident, he also mentioned that the old man’s nephew, Moss, had "a history of being a serial complainer". “If the care was systemically as bad as stated by Mr Moss, CQC would have also opened up an investigation. Lyndhurst Park is a multi-award-winning family-run care home that has been in operation for 22 years,” he noted.
Following the incident, Pearce was also served a notice to leave from the care home in Severn Road. It has been said that the incident was reported to Avon and Somerset Police, they also said though the captured behavior was unprofessional, it did not meet the criteria required to result in a criminal conviction.
“A decision was taken that while some of the behavior was unprofessional, it did not meet the threshold required to result in a criminal conviction, after viewing many hours of recorded footage. It was made in consultation with our partners, including senior managers from adult social care and the Care Quality Commission, who have extensive experience with such cases. Throughout the investigation, we remained in contact with the family to update them on our progress and to inform them of our decision,” police said.