Care resident died ‘after home refused to release her’
Barrister questions why providers turned down families’ requests despite ‘clear risk’ from Covid-19
THOUSANDS of care home residents may have died because their families were not allowed to discharge them during the pandemic, lawyers claim.
Oliver Lewis, a human rights barrister, told The Daily Telegraph that providers had failed to take into account the “clear risk” to their patients and should have disregarded safeguards and sent people home.
In one case, a woman died from Covid-19 in her care home despite her family fighting for months to remove her. They now face a hefty bill for the care she received in the weeks prior to her death.
Solicitors reported a 50 per cent rise in calls from families trying to discharge relatives during lockdown.
Mr Lewis, of Doughty Street Chambers, said: “Relatives can be blocked from removing a relative from their home if social services believe it is in their best interest to stay. But they are supposed to take circumstances into account and in many cases being detained during coronavirus caused harm rather than preventing it. Thousands must have died as a result.”
Julie Lomath, 53, told The Telegraph she had tried for months to remove her aunt from a nursing home before her death there from Covid-19 last month at the age of 84.
“My aunt never wanted to be in a home,” said Ms Lomath, of the Wirral. “For two years she’d paid for carers to come to her home and was managing by herself. Then in November, someone from social services convinced her to come into one ‘for some respite’.”
It is understood the vast majority of relatives have encountered difficulties because residents living under Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards are not legally allowed to leave care homes.
These are generally put in place by local authorities and are designed to protect those with severe conditions such as dementia who do not have the mental capacity to decide where to live. Between March 2018 and March 2019, 116,940 DOLS were granted in care homes or hospitals.
Ms Lomath said her family had tried repeatedly to remove her aunt from her care home, Hillside, in Liverpool, but the council put a DOLS in place.
“Jean had the mental capacity to make her own decisions. We even said we’d pay for more support so that she could return home,” Ms Lomath said. Her family is now being asked to pay around £16,000 in care homes fees.
Robert Ford, 80, from Plymouth, is worried that if he does not remove Christina, his wife, from her care home soon he will never see her again. “They say she needs full-time care, but she doesn’t,” Mr Ford said. “She cries on the phone to me, asking when I’m coming to pick her up.” Mr Ford said he might end up taking his case to court, but was worried his wife would die of Covid-19 before then.
A carer in one home that has had a number of Covid-19 deaths told The Telegraph that families had tried and failed to take relatives home.
The official Covid-19 death toll in care homes up to June 5 stands at just over 14,000 – accounting for around a third of England’s death toll.
Mr Lewis said the wording of DOLS was too vague and gave social services wiggle room to force people to stay put.
“Saying something is in someone’s best interests is very broad. There was a clear risk to care homes: it was obvious what would happen,” he said. “Prisoners around the world were released early, yet care home residents were not. There was a clear double standard.”
Beatrice Morgan, from Leigh Day solicitors, said it had received as many as 10 new calls a week from people struggling to remove a relative from care homes during lockdown. “There were definitely 50 per cent more inquiries about this issue than unusual, probably more,” she said.
Helen Wildbore, from the Relatives and Residents Association, a charity, said families wanting to remove a relative should think about how they would meet their needs. “Many come to the conclusion that moving isn’t a viable option,” she said.
A spokesman for Hillside care home said: “The home is absolutely confident the admission of Miss Lomath in November 2019 was correct. It was based on a proper formal assessment of her best interests involving a psychiatrist and a social worker, all the relevant deprivation of liberty documentation was agreed with the council. The decision to switch from council funding to private funding was taken by Knowsley Council on Jan 21 2020.”
He added that the outstanding fees needed to be recovered.
A spokesman for Knowsley council said it had received a formal complaint which was being dealt with but “for confidentiality reasons we are unable to comment on individual cases”.
A Plymouth city council spokesman said: “We do not comment on individual cases but have continued to support people to return to live at home from care homes throughout the pandemic and provided appropriate care arrangements for them at home.”
Ian Hudspeth, from the Local Government Association, said: “Every case is different and should be treated on its own merits, but councils’ core duty is to the welfare of each of their residents in care homes.”