FAMILY’S SECRET TAPES REVEALED HUMILIATION OF ELDERLY RESIDENT
DEMENTIA sufferer Doreen MacIntyre’s family made a secret recording exposing how care home staff subjected the vulnerable 9 -year-old to ‘unacceptable’ treatment.
Last week, details of the case were disclosed after the Care Inspectorate upheld complaints against the Kingsmills Care Home, Inverness, where Mrs MacIntyre lived until her death in November 2013.
The secret recording showed two employees humiliating the elderly woman with a slow round of applause after she asked them for ‘a hand’.
They also held explicit conversations in front of her, with another section of the tape revealing Mrs MacIntyre had to wait an hour-and-a-half for staff to respond to her appeals for help.
Her daughter, Blan Bremner, who hid a dictaphone in her mother’s room, said listening to it had made her ‘physically sick’.
She added: ‘One member of staff was talking about his sex life with his wife and ex-partners. Poor mum was just lying there.’
Mrs Bremner wrote to Health Secretary Shona Robison, who referred the complaint to the Care Inspectorate. A male and female member of staff were suspended but resigned before the disciplinary process could be completed.
The Care Inspectorate upheld three complaints against the home and said the conduct of the two workers was unacceptable.
Kingsmills Care Home said police and social services had investigated and found ‘no indication of any form of mistreatment or wilful neglect’. It added: ‘We have apologised sincerely to Mrs Bremner that there were instances when her mother’s care fell below the standards we expect to provide.’