Shropshire Star

Improvements at abuse case home in Mid Wales

Inspectors say they are satisfied that improvements in care have been made at a Mid Wales nursing home where hidden cameras caught a resident being verbally abused and neglected.

Published

Veronica Teal's family installed the cameras in the 73-year-old's room at the Bethshan Care Home in Newtown after concerns over her treatment.

The footage led to a worker being disciplined and investigations by social services and the Care and Social Services Inspectorate Wales (CSSIW).

The outcome of a protection of vulnerable adults investigation, which was launched by social services following the allegations of verbal abuse, were shared with the family yesterday.

Mrs Teal moved into the home in November.

Days after she had moved in, her family became concerned about her care and left secret cameras in her room.

One carer was seen saying to her: "You have lost 10lbs in the last two weeks and you will die. Do you want to die?

"Are you so selfish that you would allow your children to go through that? You wanting to starve yourself to death?"

On another day the footage showed that Mrs Teal's catheter bag was not emptied for 26 hours.

Mrs Teal moved to another home after six weeks.

Bosses at the CSSIW said today recommendations had been implemented at the home since the complaint came to light but they said further meetings would be held with home bosses.

Lowri Jones, the watchdog's spokeswoman, said: "CSSIW was notified of the concerns surrounding Bethshan Nursing Home on January 2.

"As part of the CSSIW concerns process this information was then referred immediately on to Powys County Council under the adult protection procedures.

"The council convened a strategy meeting and a protection plan was put in place for Mrs Teal whilst a detailed investigation into the concerns was undertaken.

"The recommendations arising from the investigation have been accepted and implemented in the home and a staff member has been disciplined.

"We undertook an inspection on April 23 to check the home had acted on the findings and recommendations of the investigation.

"We were satisfied that the home had responded appropriately and had addressed the recommendations which had been made.

"We do not tolerate poor care. We have reviewed the video and will be meeting the service provider next week."

A spokeswoman for Bethshan Care Home said today: "The trustees of Bethshan and its management team are committed to providing the highest standards of care to residents in their home.

"We take our responsibility for ensuring all residents in our care are safe and protected from the risk of harm at all times very seriously.

"As soon as we were informed of the concerns raised in relation to one of our resident's care, we carried out a thorough internal review and have worked closely with Powys Social Services to address the same.

"We have written detailed procedures which form part of our staff training to ensure that our residents are protected from abuse.

"Our procedures are reviewed and updated on a regular basis and approved by their clinical governance team.

"We will continue to review these to ensure we deliver the highest standard of care to our residents."

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