‘They didn’t look after mum’
WOMAN LEFT ‘DEVASTATED’ BY CARE AT NURSING HOME
A WOMAN has told of how she has been left “devastated” by the quality of care her elderly mum received at a nursing home.
Debbie Emms placed her mum – who has severe dementia – in Norman Hudson Nursing Home at Lockwood in June, 2019.
But she says what followed was weeks of inadequate care, funding disputes which rumbled on for months and threats of court proceedings.
Debbie was so dissatisfied she raised her concerns with the Local Government & Social Care Ombudsman, which has since found Norman Hudson Nursing Home to be guilty of numerous failings.
Prior to moving to the home, Debbie’s mum, Mrs Heywood, had spent close to a year at Tolson Grange in Huddersfield. But she was notified by carers at the residential home that they could no longer cope with her mum as she required nursing care.
After a social care worker recommended Norman Hudson Nursing
Home – part of Park Homes UK – it was agreed they would take her on.
But Debbie, 58, says her mum was wrongly classified as needing residential care when she first moved into Norman Hudson.
At the time, Debbie was in discussion with the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) to arrange for Continuing Healthcare Funding (CHC) but had been told a decision could not be made until her mum had been in a home for at least six weeks.
In those first six weeks, Debbie says she and her sister visited their mum at the nursing home every day.
“We had been going to feed her because she had lost such a lot of weight,” she said. “They served up disgusting food – I can only describe it as grey.”
Debbie added carers were not able to weigh Mrs Heywood as she would not get on the scales. But she claims the 80-year-old lost four kilos in just four weeks.
Said Debbie: “One day I went in and there was this massive bruise on her forehead. They could not explain what it was.”
The Ombudsman
found
the injury, believed to have been sustained on July 6, 2019, had not been recorded in the nursing home’s daily care records. But another incident, in which the care home claims Mrs Heywood suffered a bruised forehead, was recorded as happening on June 19, 2019.
It was also found that no pain relief had been provided to the pensioner – which she required after breaking her hip following a nasty fall the previous year.
Said Debbie: “She had not been looked after. On one occasion, she had managed to lock herself in her room and no one went to check on her because she was down as residential. She was left all night.”
Debbie then made the decision to move her mum to another care home. But shortly after, she was sent a letter by Norman Hudson with an invoice for nursing care fees.
As it had been established Mrs Heywood had been receiving residential care, Debbie refused to pay. She was issued with court papers.
“In the end, I was getting really, really upset and stressed about it all, so we did settle,” said Debbie. In
October 2019, the CCG awarded Mrs Heywood full NHS CHC funding at the residential rate.
The Ombudsman’s report states a portion of the money was then refunded in June 2020. But the matter went to court, where Debbie was awarded the full amount. Said Debbie: “I am happy (with the Ombudsman’s findings) but there are a number of issues for me. The way they (Norman Hudson) have conducted themselves and the way they did not look after my mum the way I would have expected. I am devastated by the care side of things.” A statement given to The Examiner’s sister website, YorkshireLive, by Park Homes UK said: “We deeply regret the circumstances around Mrs P Heywood’s stay at Norman Hudson some two years ago. We have fully complied with the recommendations of the Ombudsman, in spite of the fact that we felt that some of their conclusions were contentious.
“Appropriate financial compensation was given to Mrs D Emms in accordance with Ombudsman findings and we consider the matter now closed.
“As a company, we remain to be fully committed to providing excellent standards of care for all of the service users that reside at Norman Hudson Nursing Home, and we continue to take all concerns raised very seriously and acknowledge there are always lessons to be learnt for all.
“Given the current Covid-19 situation this has been a very difficult 12 months for all, particularly for those who work within the care sector caring for high risk vulnerable people.
“We and our colleagues are focused on the well being and safety of our residents, and hope that you and your readership join with us, in thanking the team at Norman Hudson for all the hard work, commitment and love they have shown for the people in their care.”