'My mum was killed in her care home bedroom - I'm campaigning so other families know their rights'

A Shropshire man is campaigning to raise awareness of families’ right to have bedroom doors in care homes closed at night after his mother died following an attack by a fellow resident.

Great-grandmother Sheila Hartman, aged 88, was attacked with a walking stick by another resident as she slept in her Bedfordshire care home bedroom on October 2, 2022 and she died on the same day.

Mrs Hartman and the woman who attacked her were both much-loved mothers living with advanced dementia. Mrs Hartman loved walking, knitting, and making things.

An adult safeguarding review following the incident in Dunstable has this week concluded and identified a number of national issues over dementia care standards.

Now Mrs Hartman’s son Richard Uridge, of Coreley, near Ludlow, has launched a campaign called Shut That Door to raise awareness of the right families and residents have for bedroom doors to be closed.

"Would you sleep in a hotel bedroom with the door wide open?" said Mr Uridge. "Of course not, because you’d worry about your safety, security and dignity.

"Yet that’s exactly how countless thousands of mainly older people living with dementia will be spending tonight and every night in care homes up and down the country."

Mr Uridge, a former journalist turned communication trainer, said Shut That Door wants to ensure residents, their families and the professionals looking after them know they have the right to get doors closed.

He added that the technology already exists in hotels to allow access to residents and staff while keeping others out.

Mr Uridge added: "My mother was a hugely practical woman so she’d love this practical solution. What could be simpler than closing a door?

"Too many people – including professionals – are totally unaware that people living with dementia have every right to sleep behind a closed door if they so wish, even if they can’t articulate that wish themselves."

A spokesperson for Central Bedfordshire Council said the safeguarding review concluded that Mrs Hartman's death "occurred within a system that did not adequately protect people living with dementia”.

The report identified five issues that "increase risks for people living with dementia across England, especially in residential settings and for people who self-fund their care”.

These included the lack of a national dementia care strategy in England, clear standards or mandatory workforce requirements, and that home oversight does not sufficiently distinguish between general care and higher-needs dementia provision.

It added that "decisions about bedroom doors at night are often treated as routine, rather than discussed openly as choice and best-interest decisions with residents and families”.

Maud O’Leary, chair of the safeguarding adults board that commissioned the review, said: “The learning from this review will inform and contribute to wider national discussions about dementia care.”

Mr Uridge said: “For me, the number one recommendation is shut that door.

"Nobody in their right mind would leave their hotel bedroom door wide open at night.

"It wouldn’t be safe and it wouldn’t be dignified.

"Yet care homes routinely do just that because they say they can keep an eye on residents more easily, which is nonsense because you can’t properly check on someone’s health and wellbeing from a distance.”