Case Studies

Ellen White with her Great Granddaughter a few months before sustaining terrible injuries in her care assisted home

The family invited CCFTV to visit their grandmother at her new nursing home recovering from devastating injuries that her family say were caused by preventable neglect. Mrs White sadly passed away a few weeks later. Care Campaign for the Vulnerable brought these issues to the CQC and relevant authorities attention and attended meetings with the family, safeguarding and provider. We called publicly for greater transparency in the care of our most vulnerable in all care environments. Read the family's story https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/961424/elderly-abuse-pensioners-cctv-care-home-security-camera-dominic-grieve

''Ellen had six falls in her care assisted accommodation in the space of two weeks. She sustained terrible injuries that ultimately caused her demise.'' Granddaughter.

''Ellen raised seven children as a single mother was forced to sell her home to cover her care costs at a care assisted housing facility in Kent. The former Council carer suffered six falls in two weeks and the last one left her with a serious gash to her head and a broken wrist. Ellen lived with dementia and sensors fitted to her bed were meant to alert carers every time she moved. When she was found on the floor of her bedroom covered in blood she was found motionless and suffering hyperthermia. The sensors we saw had been unplugged and how she was cared for was in the very least, neglectful.

We are and always will be horrified by her injuries and we are still seeking answers from the various agencies and getting to the bottom of how our Grandmother suffered these injuries. We want answers and we received none. The injuries she suffered were sickening and we feel it's just not good enough. Our Nan had dementia and at 90 years old and was being failed''.

Ellen who was from Dublin, Ireland, Dublin was taken to a hospital being treated for five weeks. We were informed by the family that Ellen sadly passed away on the 21st March 2018 from injuries her family say, were caused due to alleged 'preventable neglect’’.

Care Campaign for the Vulnerable raised awareness of the family's concerns when Gina contacted us. Mrs White's family say her devastating injuries were caused by neglect and poor care delivery and if the care assisted accommodation had installed safety monitoring the neglect their grandmother suffered could have been evidenced.

OUR STATEMENT - Care Campaign for the Vulnerable

We know from the calls and messages we receive daily, preventable neglect and non-preventable incidents can happen in communal areas in care homes – residents being left unattended for far too long resulting in falls amongst other failings.

In many cases we hear about preventable neglect has very little to do with the lack of dedication and commitment delivered by much-dedicated care staff - many who contact us saying that they are often not listened to, overworked, understaffed and under-supported.

Low pay as many commentators state could be a contributing factor to preventable neglect but we know carers tell us this reflects badly on those that do a great job for pay that fails to reflect their worth. It is easy to be seduced by the statistics too as one in five care home are currently underperforming and this is seriously worrying.

The care sector has to start viewing safety monitoring as an extra care assist tool. It’s not there to replace good care, spy, catch out or interrupt a person’s privacy or dignity but only to enhance and safeguard and to help protect vulnerable residents and carers while allowing Care Providers much better transparency. We need to keep pressuring and influence the sector that safety monitoring in public areas in all care homes is the right thing to do. Ellen White's family deserved these answers after the death of their beloved Nana and so do many, many more families.

Care Campaign attended a meeting with Ellen White's family, the care provider and various agencies. The outcome of the meeting was procedures that had not initially been implemented/carried out at the time in Ellen White's case had been reviewed, so what happened to Mrs White' could not happen again.

We would like to offer our sincere thanks to the White family for allowing CCFTV to follow their care journey and helping to influence the care sector to adopt safety monitoring.