‘unexplained’
Police in care home probe
PAUL HUTCHEON
Police are investigating the death of a home care user amid concerns about “serious failings” in South Lanarkshire Council’s service.
The local authority has also moved staff involved in the case away from direct contact with other individuals who depend on the service.
A damning Care Inspectorate report published last December gave “unsatisfactory” grades for the home care service in Rutherglen and Cambuslang.
The watchdog found the information that was available for staff on the people in their care was “insufficient” to provide a safe service.
An example cited was a patient who had sustained a serious injury returning home with no assessment of need.
In another case, no specialist nurses were involved in the care of a patient who had received a cancer diagnosis.
The watchdog concluded: “As a result of the serious failings noted and the requirement to improve being repeated again following this inspection, an improvement notice was issued.”
The same Inspectorate also blasted the quality of home care services in Hamilton.
As a consequence, South Lanarkshire Council implemented a voluntary moratorium on all new cases in the towns.
It has now emerged that a 59-year-old service user in Hamilton died in January – a death that led to the involvement of police.
Staff have been interviewed by officers and the council will now instigate its own case review.
A police spokesperson said: “On January 20, a man was taken by ambulance from his home in Gordon Road, Hamilton, to Hairmyres Hospital for medical treatment. “The 59-year-old died on January 22 and his death is currently being treated as unexplained.
“A report will be submitted to the procurator fiscal.
“Inquiries are ongoing to establish the full circumstances surrounding his death.”
Commenting, a council spokesman said: “We can confirm that, very sadly, one of our service users passed away in January.
“Our thoughts and condolences are with the family.
“As this death is the subject of police inquiries, it would not be appropriate to give any details at this time.”