Miliband steps into row over care home

THE FORMER Labour leader Ed Miliband has intervened after elderly people were moved out of a care home on safety grounds.

He met people who lost their jobs at Warneford House in Doncaster, where concerns were raised over low staffing levels and a lack of leadership.

Doncaster Council said it was forced to act quickly over safety fears at the Adwick le Street home. The council’s intervention saw 27 residents have to move out at short notice last month.

The Doncaster North MP said he was “so sorry” for what the residents, staff and relatives had gone through and added that he would “write to the council to convey what had been raised”.

The GMB union is seeking to recover wages and redundancy payments for 32 staff who were dismissed.

GMB Organiser Rachel Dix said: “We want answers, we want accountability and we want an apology. But most of all we want reassurances that there will be no further systematic failures that result in our elderly and vulnerable being treated in this way.”

Karen Johnson, the council’s assistant director of adult social care and safeguarding, said: “We simply could not leave the residents in this home overnight.

“It was not safe and they were seriously at risk so we stepped in to ensure older and vulnerable people in this home were safe and cared for.

“The home was seriously understaffed and no one was in charge. Even though the operational manager offered to step in, there was no clear plan about how they were going to make things safe and we could not risk leaving people there.”