We must have a public inquiry into care home

Apr 3 2008 by Paul Loraine, The Journal

A FORMER nurse who blew the whistle on shocking conditions in a North East care home has demanded assurances that standards are better at the new centre.

Phil Brown lifted the lid on the appalling working practices at Bamburgh Court in South Shields which led to then manager Ann Rigby being struck off by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) last week.

The home is under new management and has changed its name to St Michaels View Care Home, run by Southern Cross. The most recent report by the Commission for Social Care Inspection in July last year said the home now provides good clinical care.

But for Mr Brown, who lives in Lincoln Road, Marsden, South Shields, said questions remain unanswered and he is determined to force the issue to a public inquiry.

He said: “I think it’s vital in the public interest to hold a public inquiry.

“I am calling for it because I feel that there are a lot of lessons to be learned and a lot of questions that are still unanswered as to the length of time it took to investigate.

“And at the moment I feel that unless there is a public inquiry involving the Department of Health, this will happen time and time again. It needs to be examined.”

Mr Brown worked as a temporary nurse between July and November in 2000 while Mrs Rigby had worked there since 1997.

It was thought the home deteriorated to a low point in 2004, the year in which Mrs Rigby left.

Now working as a clinical hypnotherapist, Mr Brown, 53, also called for the NMC to appoint regional officers to encourage nurses privy to poor conditions to report them.

“What went on was disgraceful and we need to make sure elderly, vulnerable people are protected.”

Former manager Ann Rigby was struck off on Friday after she let the home – then run by Ashbourne Homes – fall into such a state of disrepair that inspectors branded it the worst home they had ever seen.

Elderly residents and dementia patients were forced to sleep on mattresses smeared with faeces on the floor of Bamburgh Court on St Michaels Avenue North.

Among the stories told by relatives was a particularly shocking one in which a daughter entered her mother’s room to find her lying in the foetal position, soaked in urine.

But July’s report from the Commission for Social Care Inspection said the care home had dramatically improved under new management.

It read: “Service users feel that they are well looked after and speak highly of the care they receive.

“Staff members engage service users in conversation when carrying out care and staff members put elderly service users at their ease.”

Sonia Pharoah, general manager of St Michaels View Care Home, said: “What happened was four years ago and the person involved has left.

“Things have improved a lot since that time. I have a lot of families who would vouch for that.”

A spokeswoman for the NMC said: “Under their code, nurses and midwives are obliged to report any concerns they may have over a colleague’s practice.

“Regardless of how many NMC officers are employed around the UK, it is the individual responsibility of nurses and midwives to follow their code as the foundation of their professional practice. This is the only way to ensure incidents, such as that at Bamburgh Care Home, do not occur.”