CORONA CRISIS
6
Dementia sufferer Mary McDonald was one of 23 residents at Whitehills Care Home to lose their lives during a Covid-19 outbreak.
Her daughter, Janice Rae, has launched a furious attack on standards at the Thistle Healthcare facility, claiming it:
Failed to make contact after her mum contracted coronavirus. Had general low standards of cleanliness and stale air in rooms. Handed back several of her mum’s personal belongings broken.
Told her to dump items she couldn’t take away in a car park skip. Thistle Healthcare has strongly denied the claims.
The care home, in East Kilbride, was at the centre of controversy in May when its Covid death toll emerged. Care Inspectorate officials carried out an inspection the same month and later praised “good infection prevention and control procedures”.
But Janice, 50, who lives in Bristol, said: “I couldn’t believe what I was reading when I saw that report. It sounded like a completely different place. It just felt like a complete whitewash.
“When I went into the rooms, the air was stale. I needed to open any doors and windows, and found mum on dirty bedsheets and without her hair washed.
“I called mum on Sunday, May 3, and the nurse told me she’d deteriorated overnight and the home had just ordered end- of-life medication.
“If I’d known earlier, I’d have gone up and at least tried to say goodbye to her. “When mum c a me on t he phone, I could just hear rasping breath.
“She couldn’t speak and sounded terrible. I just cried and said I loved her. I put the phone down and cried and cried. When I ca l led ba ck , I couldn’t get through