Caught on camera, the abuser at top care home
Carer at award-winning centre belittled dementia sufferer, 87
A HEARTLESS carer was caught on a hidden camera mocking and abusing a vulnerable dementia patient in a nursing home.
The footage shows Victoria Taylor, 41, taunting and threatening 87-year-old Michael Pearce after he soiled himself.
The former businessman – described as ‘so sweet-natured and calm’ – was left for 40 minutes in his own faeces before being subjected to a barrage of callous comments at Lyndhurst Park care home in Weston- super-Mare, Somerset.
Miss Taylor’s behaviour was only exposed after Mr Pearce’s resourceful nephew installed a secret camera in his room after becoming concerned for his uncle’s welfare.
The video – taken on August 3 last year – reveals how the ailing pensioner, who takes medication which can cause incontinence, was first discovered at 7.05am by a nurse.
She assured him he would be cleaned up in ‘two minutes’.
But the recording shows Mr Pearce, who has vascular dementia, was left lying in his own excrement for another 40 minutes before Miss Taylor and another carer arrived.
Miss Taylor is heard as she walks into the room saying: ‘Oh my God. I think we need to take a photo.’ She can then be heard laughing.
She starts smiling when she turns to her colleague to say: ‘He’s crying.’ Mr Pearce can be heard groaning while the carers gossip about Facebook and visiting Primark.
Miss Taylor tells Mr Pearce to ‘stop with the stupid noise please’ when he complains he is in pain and dismisses him, saying: ‘Well I can imagine it is irritating being covered in s***.’
She then calls Mr Pearce a ‘drama queen’ and threatens him if he vomits, saying: ‘You f***ing puke over me mate, I’m telling you.’ While Miss Taylor – who is paid around £8.50 per hour – also calls him ‘darling’ and says ‘sorry’, her tone is impatient and disrespectful.
When Mr Peace is finally cleaned up and sitting upright in bed, he says: ‘I wish I was dead.’
Astonishingly, Lyndhurst Park was named the ‘most attentive nursing home’ in the South West at last year’s GHP Healthcare and Pharmaceutical awards. A Care Quality Commission report from the previous month rated the home ‘good’ and praised its ‘compassionate’ staff. The Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 states that people ‘must be treated with dignity and respect at all times while they are receiving care and treatment’.
The CQC cannot prosecute for a breach of this regulation but it can impose conditions on a facility or suspend its registration.
The footage was captured on secret camera by Mr Pearce’s nephew, Ian Moss. He said he was ‘shocked, disgusted and devastated’, adding: ‘I honestly did not think it would show what it showed. You think everything’s OK, and it really isn’t. He added: ‘Michael is so sweet-natured and calm. It is very upsetting.’
Mr Pearce’s care at Lyndhurst Park, which costs around £3,500 a month, was part-funded by the North Somerset
‘I wish I was dead’ ‘Standard fell well short’
Council. The home is run by Gordon and Margaret Butcher. The couple live in a £1.5million eight-bedroom house in the centre of Bristol and also own a property in Tampa, Florida. They said in a statement that they were ‘devastated’ by the footage.
The three members of staff were suspended pending an investigation. Miss Taylor was dismissed and reported to the Disclosure and Barring Service. But it would not disclose the outcome of its investigation.
Her colleague was deemed ‘ less vocal and proactive’ during the abuse but was found to have ‘neglected her duty to whistleblow’. She was disciplined but reinstated with restrictions on working by herself.
The nurse who found Mr Pearce that morning was not disciplined.
North Somerset Council investi-gated Lyndhurst Park following the incident but ‘no further abuse was identified’. Last night, MPs and campaigners called for greater regulation of the care industry and called into question the CQC’s inspection regime.
Labour MP Debbie Abrahams, of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Dementia, said: ‘The abuse that Mr Pearce went through is absolutely appalling. It is a concern that the CQC rated this nursing home as “good” a month prior to this incident. Many people will use this as an assurance of the quality of care they can expect to receive.’
Kate Terroni, of the CQC, said: ‘It is clear that the standard of care fell well short of what we demand. It is absolutely not acceptable for people in vulnerable situations to experience poor care.’
Miss Taylor did not respond when approached for comment.