Family found old soldier ‘in soiled clothes’ at care home
CLAIMS that a proud Army veteran was found lying in his own mess at a care home where his family feared he had not been changed for four days were being investigated last night.
Grandfather Ronnie Miller, 73, was found by horrified relatives at Liverpool’s Aaron Grange Care Home.
The family say they dressed him during a visit on Tuesday, September 4, but four days later found him in heavily soiled clothing with dirty washing left in a laundry basket.
They say they returned the next day to find his catheter bag overflowing and urine running down his leg.
By then they were so angry they called police after being unable to track down anybody in social services over the weekend.
His stepdaughter Sarah Dixon said: “He was put in there for a health assessment but since he’s been in there nothing really has happened.
“His health has declined. They have just left him in filth. It’s disgusting.”
Her partner Patrick Kavanagh, 42, fumed: “The police refused to come but what was happening to Ronnie was a crime. Who do you speak to on a Saturday? There’s nobody.
“He’s a proud man and every time he realises the state he is in, it’s devastating for him.”
Mr Miller, from Kirkby, is understood to have served in the Queen’s Guard regiment in his younger days.
He now has dementia and was placed in the home for a four-week assessment after being treated for a serious infection at Liverpool’s Fazakerley Hospital in the summer. His relatives took photographs that appear to confirm their description of Mr Miller’s condition, but the images are mostly too distressing to publish.
Ms Dixon, 28, said: “We have to change him ourselves.
“We are not going to visit him, we’re going to look after him. We’re washing him. We should not have to do that.
“When you walk in it smells of faeces and urine.”
Mr Kavanagh, a former security supervisor, added: “It was like that from the first day he was in there.
“He gets so frustrated. He is quite dazed but when he gets back to himself he cries.
“It should make no difference, but this is a man who has served his country. I look at him and think, ‘is this what’s going happen to me when I’m his age’. It’s disgraceful.”
A spokesman for Aaron Grange Care Home, which is operated by Hill Care, said: “The welfare of our residents is our highest priority and we are deeply saddened the family feel let down by the care provided.
“We take all accusations of sub-standard care extremely seriously and have already informed the Care Quality Commission and the Knowsley Council Safeguarding Adults Board, who are investigating.”
A CQC spokesman said: “Aaron Grange Care Home was inspected in June this year and rated ‘good’ overall.”