I complained about the care of my mum . . . then I was told she had to go
HEARTBROKEN Sharon Chalk felt guilty when she was forced to put her mother into a care home.
Widowed Diana Reeve worked in a supermarket until she was 75 and was fiercely independent.
But with Diana stricken by vascular dementia, her daughter wanted her to be in a place where she could receive round-the-clock attention.
Mrs Reeve was placed in a care home in Suffolk in August 2016.
But three years later, Mrs Chalk, 56, was told her mother was being served notice to leave.
Downhill
She received a letter after having meetings with the home’s managers in which she raised concerns about care standards.
Mrs Chalk claimed she had several meetings with the care home management.
After one meeting with a director, she said she was told that they felt that they were unable to meet her mother’s needs.
Mrs Chalk said the director told her: “You’ll have to find another placement.”
She said: “I felt that they wanted me to find another placement for my mother because I had complained.
“In the three years she was there, her care plan hadn’t changed.”
For the first 18 months, Mrs Chalk was happy with the care her mother was receiving and praised her carers as “lovely and attentive”.
But she claimed things went downhill after the home came under new management.
Her mother’s care cost £1,007 a week for a package partly funded by Suffolk County Council.
Mrs Chalk took her case to the Care Quality Commission and Healthwatch, but in July she received a letter from the home which said that it was unable to meet her mother’s needs.
It left her a month to find another home for her 84-yearold mother.
Breaking down in tears, mother-of-one Mrs Chalk – who has suffered depression as a result of her mother’s situation – said: “I blame myself because I believe my complaint had prompted their action.
“I feel guilty enough as it is about putting my mother in a care home. I have been through hell.”