Case Studies

Since my father's death in August 2018 my mum has had a terrible time in the care home system. She is 81, has suffered from severe mental illness for thirty years and is blind. She has been shunted between four different care homes in the last two years. Her latest care home run by a prolific care home provider that decided to section my mother under the mental health act without any prior warning of difficult behaviour. On 29th October I was faced with the difficult decision to ratify this as next of kin. I agreed after being promised that she would get a proper diagnosis and proper holistic treatment rather than just throwing drugs at the problem (ironic from the son of a pharmacist). After treatment all parties agreed that she would be properly assessed and a joint decision taken if she should go back to her current care home. Mum was transferred against her will to an NHS hospital.

My brother rang me on November 24th 2020 to tell me the ward at the NHS hospital had been informed that mum's care home had decided to indeed evict her. I was angry. I rang the home at 11:30 on Nov 25th and was put through to the lead nurse who confirmed that 'the team and management' had made this decision. I said in no uncertain terms this was wrong, premature (my Mum had not even got a diagnosis) and probably unlawful not to tell her family. I made what I thought was a formal complaint to the lead nurse of the whole group. In the meantime I rang the care home and was told that the decision to evict had involved at least one meeting and was unequivocal. Three hours after my original conversation with the lead nurse of the group, she left me a message saying her investigation had concluded. To cut a long story short, I was told by email that there were never any meetings or any decision made to evict my Mum.

''I was upset and angry and found Care Campaign for the Vulnerable....''

On Sun morning at 12:30 am I was angry and upset so I looked on the web for help. I found Care Campaign for the Vulnerable' . I contacted them at just gone midnight, a person answered immediately and took on their advice. I also rang the CQC. I have spoken to them and emailed and every letter/email sent back is a 'template' with no real two way communication. I think they are basically a marketing arm for the care home industry which is of course driven by profit. I rang the Parliamentary & Health Service Ombudsman and talked to someone who was not helpful. The care home group invited me do another formal complaint via the right process (stalling, wearing me down) and told me it will take a minimum of twenty one days. Thirty five days later they have now informed me that a single rogue member of staff got ''confused '' and inadvertently told the NHS hospital that Mum was being evicted. I believe they are still not being transparent .

Mum contracted Covid on December 2nd whilst in the NHS hospital but thankfully survived. We are now trying to find her a new care home which will meet her needs but the 'sectioning', which was dubious to say the least, is counting against her. The care home system is broken with profit put before our most vulnerable elderly.

''I believe there is a much bigger killer than Covid and that is our care home system''.

I am determined to get to the bottom of this and have now started a complaint through the NHS advocacy service. Its important to speak out so your voice will be heard and like our family through CCFTV you will find an oasis in an otherwise arid desert of complacency, apathy and greed.

Care Campaign for the Vulnerable is receiving a worrying increase in calls from family members reporting care home evictions and the reasons they are served. We are aware, however, in many cases we support residents are served notice if staff can no longer meet their care needs. However, there is a growing trend of worrying accounts brought to us where care providers are not operating transparently when it comes to serving eviction notices. This is the account of the family member. If you are interested in this case study please contact ccftv.cares@gmail.com

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