Pensioners Agnes Donnelly, left, better known as Nancy, and Jill Symmonds – both badly bruised and traumatised while in care homes.
By Bill Heaney and Vidushi Tiwari of STV News
Elderly? Not me. I tell people who ask my age that I am 90 looking in and about 40 looking out. That usually gets a laugh, but growing old is a serious business — and a costly one too, not just for you, but for your family. It can also be dangerous, very dangerous.
The William B Yeats poem “When You Are Old” makes those third age years when you are “full of sleep and nodding by the fire” sound idyllic.
That you will end your days sitting in a comfortable armchair “bending down beside the glowing bars .. . slowly reading and dreaming of the soft look your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep”.
In those circumstances, and with our families close by, none of us would fear dying so much as so many of us do now in 21st century Scotland.
There are two words that put the fear of God into most of us — care homes.
They are almost as much spoken about nowadays as death and taxes, which for many are wisely discussed before the undertaker rolls up with his hearse and horses. Or, even today, with their motor cycle and sidecar to the local crematorium. There is little room left for us to be buried beside our friends and relatives in the old cemeteries.
Hearse and horses plus funeral by motor bike to Cardross Crematorium.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has a plan for us, however. The National Care Plan.
It came to mind on Monday when STV News published a journalistic investigation by their reporter Vidushi Tiwari, which revealed that a care home resident called Agnes Donnelly had sustained a litany of injuries all over her body before her death in January 2022.
It said: “The family of a woman with dementia who was found with a catalogue of bruises all over her body prior to her death has demanded a renewed investigation into her injuries.”
I hope the Donnelly family has more success with the SNP-run authorities than I did when I drew attention to a similar case to light in the The Democrat, not once but a number of times.
Agnes Donnelly, better known as Nancy, passed away shortly after an unrecorded incident left her with lesions covering her face at Broomfield Court Care Home in Glasgow.
Her son, Colin, told STV News the family had sold her house in order to pay £1,400 per week for “specialist dementia care” at the facility – managed by Larchwood Care Homes Ltd – in 2020.
The home shut down five months after her death from pneumonia in January 2022 – leaving 89-year-old Nancy’s family without any answers. Secret Scotland yet again.
Colin added: “My mother died just over a year ago, and I thought I was coping with it – but every now and again, I just got this nagging feeling that more could be done to get answers,” Colin said.
“Anyone’s mother is their first love, and it’s horrific what happened to her. When she died, it felt like her life was forgotten about, and the circumstances of her death were forgotten about.
‘Sold her house for £1,400-a-week care’
“My mother was diagnosed with vascular dementia somewhere between 2018 and 2019 – just before the Covid-19 pandemic hit,” Mr Donnelly said.
“Following her diagnosis, she was living alone in her own home and seemed to be doing okay. We visited regularly and tried to keep her company as much as possible, albeit from a distance.”
However, Nancy’s condition quickly deteriorated, and before long she was put into the care of Broomfield Court Care Home, in 2020.
“It became so bad she needed specialist dementia care, and we were assured they had the resources to provide that for her. It was extremely expensive, at £1,400 per week, so we had to make the difficult decision to sell her house and pay the fees,” Mr Donnelly said.
He and his sister, Glynn, were unable to visit her at the home for several months due to Covid-19 restrictions, however eventually began to see her once a week as rules were lifted.
“At first there were no real issues, but eventually my sister started noticing that mum wasn’t being regularly washed, just generally a bit grubby looking, with dirty nails and messy hair.
“We weren’t happy with her living conditions and made several complaints, but kept being brushed off. She continued to lose weight, and lost a lot before the incident.”
‘No explanation for horrific bruising’
Glynn Connelly visited her mother at Broomfield one day in October 2021, and was left “horrified” at the state of her mother’s face.
“She was covered in these extremely dark bruises – we had just visited a few days ago and they hadn’t been there, but we weren’t informed of any incident which could have caused something so awful.
“We immediately called management but there was no explanation – no record to even say she had been injured.”
Nancy was supposed to be checked on regularly by staff, but no employee had reported seeing the bruises prior to Glynn’s visit.
Colin claims that no one at the home had his mother medically checked over, and thus there was no medical assessment from a doctor.
The family approached the Care Inspectorate, council social workers and Police Scotland to report “a suspicious injury to a vulnerable person”, however claim that it went overlooked.
“At the hospital, blood tests showed she had severe dehydration – she gulped down water when offered. And on closer inspection by medical staff, the bruising extended across her body – it was all over her ribs and legs.
“It was horrific,” Mr Donnelly recalled.
After her discharge from hospital, Nancy was moved to a room closer to the nurses’ station.
However, Colin claims a door within the room, which led to the courtyard, couldn’t be shut properly due to a broken lock.
“I was reassured that the door would be fixed as soon as possible, but she caught pneumonia shortly after. I suspect the freezing cold draft, in the middle of winter 2021, contributed to it.”
Nancy was taken to hospital again, where she contracted “infection after infection,” before her death in January last year.
‘Catalogue of failings’
“Its angering because once she died all the investigations stopped – we were left totally without answers, and the home shut down shortly after.
“She was supposed to be looked after in her vulnerable condition, and look at what happened instead.”
The Care Inspectorate told Colin the circumstances were evidence of a “catalogue of failings on the care home’s part”.
“What angers me the most is the not taking any responsibility or accountability for this. I’m not legally minded, all we are asking for is accountability, and an opportunity to highlight the very real issues surrounding elderly people in care.
“My mother lived a beautiful life,” Mr Donnelly, 65, recalled. “She was a caring kind person who adored her children and grandchildren.
‘We apologise for our failings’
A spokesperson for Larchwood Care told STV News: “We understand Mrs Donnelly’s family’s concerns and acknowledge their considerable distress following the loss of a much-loved family member.
“Our investigation into these matters identified some failings with communication and we apologise for the impact this has had on the Donnelly family. In acknowledging this failing, we have reviewed our policies and made the necessary changes.
“In 2021 the matter was referred to the Care Inspectorate and the Adult Support and Protection team. The home, which is now closed, fully co-operated with the outside agencies looking into the issues raised. We accepted and reacted to the feedback from both agencies throughout the investigation.”
A spokesperson for the Care Inspectorate said: “We aware of a concern raised about the quality of care experienced by an individual at this care service, which has since cancelled its registration with the Care Inspectorate.
“The concern was investigated by the relevant local authority under Adult Support and Protection procedures.”
A spokesperson for Glasgow Health and Social Care Partnership said: “Glasgow HSCP were aware of the concerns raised in respect of the home. Investigations were undertaken in line with Adult Support and Protection procedures and increased contact was initiated with the home due to the concerns raised.
“When the provider announced the closure of the home, HSCP staff worked with Care Inspectorate colleagues to support residents, family and the care home to ensure this was done safely.”
“My mother lived a beautiful life,” Mr Donnelly, 65, recalled. “She was a caring kind person who adored her children and grandchildren. She was extremely charitable, so much so that my sister and I had to sometimes rein her in because of how much she was giving away.”
We apologise for our failings’
A spokesperson for Larchwood Care said: “We understand Mrs Donnelly’s family’s concerns and acknowledge their considerable distress following the loss of a much-loved family member.
“Our investigation into these matters identified some failings with communication and we apologise for the impact this has had on the Donnelly family. In acknowledging this failing, we have reviewed our policies and made the necessary changes.
“In 2021 the matter was referred to the Care Inspectorate and the Adult Support and Protection team. The home, which is now closed, fully co-operated with the outside agencies looking into the issues raised. We accepted and reacted to the feedback from both agencies throughout the investigation.”
A spokesperson for the Care Inspectorate said: “We aware of a concern raised about the quality of care experienced by an individual at this care service, which has since cancelled its registration with the Care Inspectorate.
“The concern was investigated by the relevant local authority under Adult Support and Protection procedures.”
A spokesperson for Glasgow Health and Social Care Partnership said: “Glasgow HSCP were aware of the concerns raised in respect of the home. Investigations were undertaken in line with Adult Support and Protection procedures and increased contact was initiated with the home due to the concerns raised.
“When the provider announced the closure of the home, HSCP staff worked with Care Inspectorate colleagues to support residents, family and the care home to ensure this was done safely.”
In December at the end of last year, The Democrat reported: “Today could well be the day when the SNP’s Scottish Government is saved from making yet another huge blunder which would match only in squandered public money and lost life terms the island ferries fiasco and the disastrous construction of the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow — and so much else the Nationalists have fallen down on in the past 15 years.
On Monday 5th December, Holyrood’s Health and Social Care Committee heard from social care providers and service users, including those from the voluntary sector and representing individual carers, as part of their scrutiny of the already much criticised £1.25 billion plan for a National Care Service.
Members of the Committee will meet with the Coalition of Care and Support Providers in Scotland (CCPS) before holding a formal Committee meeting later in the afternoon when hopefully – in the national interest – the whole misconceived idea from Nicola Sturgeon and her hopeless Health Secretary Humza Yousaf will be binned.
As part of the Committee meeting, two panels will provide evidence; the first panel focused on the voluntary sector and individual carers, the second focused on disability and independent advocacy.
“As well as gathering detailed oral evidence in our weekly meetings at Holyrood, we have also travelled to Dumfries and Aberdeen to hear from those who would be impacted by the development of a National Care Service.”
It is a blessing that no one is listening to her and there is little or no prospect of this proceeding.
It is a great pity that their fantastical mystery tour did not include West Dunbartonshire, where the SNP-run local authority scrapped the highly valued system of community care homes already in place and replaced them at a cost of a cool £10 million plus with a large modern structure out in the hills above the town in a building which looks more like a secret police HQ than a home to care for the elderly.
Astonishingly, the SNP council allowed one of their own homes, Langcraigs in Gooseholm, off Townend Road, Dumbarton, to go on the market and sold it to a private care provider for £250,000 less than the best price they were offered.
That is quarter of a million pounds from the public purse in a seriously deprived area which we are constantly reminded is flat broke.
They must now know that decision was a disastrous one which returned Dumbarton to the days of high occupancy care homes in places such as Townend Hospital [widely known as The Poor House] and took them into competition with the private sector for staff.
The new council leader, Labour’s Martin Rooney, pictured right, told The Democrat: “We are forced to consider distressing cost-saving options that will negatively impact on our communities, with our most vulnerable citizens particularly affected.
“This time of unprecedented financial crisis is the moment when the Scottish Government must step up to help local authorities to continue to provide these vital services.
“Without additional funding the consequences of the cuts ahead will be felt in communities for years to come.”
The public will be able to attend the meeting to witness the waste of time and money that will be spent on it – “This visit gives us an opportunity to hear first-hand from those at the frontline of delivering services and from key stakeholders on the challenges they face, and their hopes and concerns with the proposals.
“The information we gather on this visit will prove invaluable as we develop recommendations for inclusion in our Stage 1 report into the National Care Service Bill.”
And the band played Believe it if you Like.
The two panels providing evidence to the Committee are: Don Williamson, Shared Care Scotland, Chief Executive; Karen Sheridan, Community Integrated Care, Chief Operating Officer; Clare Gallagher, CEMVO, Human Rights Officer; Hannah Tweed, The Health and Social Care Alliance Scotland, Senior Policy Officer; Mhairi Wylie, Highland Third Sector Interface, Chief Officer.
Then from: Andy Miller, Scottish Commission for People with Leaning Disabilities, Strategic Lead: Participation and Partnership; Frank McKillop, ENABLE Scotland, Head of Policy and Research; Rhona Willder, Scottish Independent Advocacy Alliance, Development Manager; Dr Pauline Nolan, Inclusion Scotland and the People Led Policy Panel, Head of Leadership and Civic Participation; Dr Caroline Gould , Skye and Lochalsh Access Panel, Trustee and Access Auditor.
One is left wondering exactly how much it will cost for the Scottish Government to field that team of highly paid officials for a committee meeting which will go no further than the Qatar team have in the World Cup.
It’s simply a question of more council taxpayers’ money down the drain.
Responding to the “significant concern” raised by the Scottish Parliament’s finance committee over the lack of financial detail behind the SNP’s planned centralisation of social care, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader and health spokesperson Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP,said: “Today’s report shows there is no excuse for the government unleashing a billion-pound bureaucratic takeover of social care.
“At a time when public money is already being squeezed to the pips, this is nothing short of a ministerial power grab that lacks any kind of good financial grounding.
“Nicola Sturgeon must order her ministers to stop work on these plans and send the money to where it is needed the most- staff and services.”
The first Minister can’t say she wasn’t warned. It’s almost five years since The DEMOCRAT asked if West Dunbartonshire Council and the associated Health and Social Care Partnership had done any research into the care home company which bought Langcraigs Residential Home at Gooseholm, Dumbarton. We have heard nothing.
Meallmore Limited got the bargain of a lifetime when the then SNP-run basket case council sold it to them for the knockdown price of just £1 million.
We asked the Convener and ‘spokesperson’ for Infrastructure, Regeneration & Economic Development, Councillor Iain McLaren, pictured left, to tell us, but all we got was silence and sour looks.
Complete and utter silence was not the kind of communication the press and public would expect from the SNP councillor for Dumbarton Central who promised along with his colleagues to SPEAK UP for the people who elected him.
They also agreed to an ongoing spend of around £500,000 a year on council communications services.
Councillor McLaren had sung the praises of Meallmore when the deal was being cut, but he is not singing now. He is no longer a councillor.
And he hasn’t been part of the gaulieter-led SNP group since we revealed that if you key Meallmore’s name into Google, you will come up with some very alarming results.
For example, this appeared on BBC Scotland’s news programmes last year: An Aberdeenshire care home has apologised after an elderly resident was left severely bruised from a fall. It is believed Jill Symmonds, 78, fell from the toilet while suffering a seizure at Sunnybank Care Home, Cruden Bay. Mrs Symmonds’ family claims that no-one from the care home called to let them know about the incident. Meallmore Ltd, which runs the care home, said the lack of contact was “unacceptable”. Mrs Symmonds’ granddaughter, Emma Stephen, published a Facebook post condemning the incident, which has been shared more than 1,000 times. In the post, she said her family did not find out about the fall until nine hours after Mrs Symmonds had been taken to hospital, and even then, they were only told after calling Sunnybank themselves. She also said her grandmother, who suffers from dementia and epilepsy, had previously broken both her legs in separate incidents due to being left alone on the toilet. The fall left Mrs Symmonds with two black eyes and severe bruising around her face.
Unfortunately, this is not the only record of shocking incidents at this company’s care homes. We flagged up the situation to Councillor Jim Bollan, who voted against Langcraigs being sold to Meallmore. The Renton councillor was shocked and horrified by what he read on the internet.
He said later: “It is astonishing that the Health & Social Care Partnership (Quango) have approved this company Meallmore as being fit a proper to take care of elderly residents.
“A look at their record in the care field is quite disturbing. A 91-year-old resident attacked by another resident in a Meallmore home in Inverness, receiving nine injuries to their head.
“A 32-year-old with mental health issues lay dead for up to a week in their flat while being cared for by Meallmore care staff.
“A resident with Parkinson’s humiliated and bullied by staff at a residential home in Aberdeen.
“How the H&SCP can approve this organisation to take care of some of our most vulnerable elderly residents beggars belief.
“This decision to sell this land to this company needs reviewed, before legal documents are signed.”
At the meeting where the decision to sell Langcraigs was taken, Cllr Bollan labelled the proposed £1 million sale of Langcraigs as “scandalous”.
He criticised West Dunbartonshire Council for centralising services then allowing the private care sector to move in and “make a profit from the care of our elderly”.
Council officers recommended that the authority’s infrastructure, regeneration and economic development committee approve the sale of the home.
The reason given was that there is still a requirement for more care home beds locally.
A member of the West Dunbartonshire Community Party, Cllr Bollan, who has criticised the centralisation of care home services since plans were first considered, said: “This proposal by the health and social care partnership stinks to high heaven and lays bare the need for the two 90-bed care homes being built by the council.
“Once more people have been duped into believing the argument that big is better and the centralisation of care services for the elderly is good for them, only for it to be thrown back in their faces by allowing the private care sector to take over Langcraigs and make a profit from the care of our elderly. Scandalous.”
Then Langcraigs residents were moved to the new £10 million Crosslet House, which also replaces Willox Park and Dalreoch House, both of which are earmarked for private housing.
Crosslet House, which is far out of the way of the community boasts a modern cinema room, outdoor terrace, internet rooms, gardens, hair salon and nail bar, provides 84 beds for elderly residents, particularly those with dementia.
But it is inconvenient for elderly visitors [relatives and friends of elderly people are usually elderly themselves] who don’t have their own transport and it’s expensive to take a taxi there on a regular basis which can be frequently if the home resident is in an end of life situation.
The bus stops nearest Crosslet are down on the dangerous A82 Boulevard unlike Langcraigs which has bus stops for both directions a few yards away in Townend Road.
The report to the council meeting said: “The health and social care partnership consider that there is sufficient demand in the area for a further care home and of the three currently closing Langcraigs presents the best opportunity to permit refurbishment and expansion.”
So, why didn’t they do this themselves?
“The council started marketing Langcraigs in March, setting a closing date in mid-June. Two offers were received and the £975,000 bid by Meallmore, who are proposing a 32- bed facility with single bed en-suite units, was identified as the preferred option.
“The other bid was made by a residential developer for £1.02 million. The report says Meallmore’s terms are more agreeable due to an early entry date as the council remain liable for maintenance, security and insurance of the site as well as non-domestic rates while the building lies empty.
Langcraigs has been sold to Meallmore by West Dunbartonshire Council, a move described as “astonishing” by Councillor Jim Bollan, left.
While Meallmore’s terms may more agreeable to the council, one is left wondering about their operating practices. This is an edited extract from a report from the Daily Mail on-line:
A care home worker played lewd tricks on a resident, telling a colleague it was ‘just a bit of fun’. Clarisa Bartolome and another worker terrified the woman in their care so much that she began to wet the bed and feared nights when they were on duty, a hearing was told. The resident, who suffered from Parkinson’s Disease, was subjected to ‘disgusting’ behaviour by the pair, who also pelted her with jelly babies.
The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) in Edinburgh heard evidence against Bartolome and another member of staff, who was not identified. The alleged incidents happened between 2010 and 2013 when Bartolome was a nurse at Crimond House Care Home, in Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire. The private home, run by Meallmore Ltd, specialises in caring for patients with dementia or learning disabilities.
Rosemary Cowe, a care worker at the same home, described Bartolome’s behaviour as ‘disgusting’. She said the nurse and the other worker played lewd jokes on four separate occasions. They laughed and claimed ‘it was just a bit of fun’. Mrs Cowe told the hearing: ‘I was on night shift work when I saw what happened to the resident and I totally thought it was inappropriate behaviour.’ On another occasion, according to the witness, the resident had sweets thrown at her. She said the patient ‘always had a bowl of sweets just as you came into the room and they started giggling and chucking sweets at her’. After throwing a black jelly baby, one of the pair had told her ‘there’s a black man for your night’.
The resident had ‘told them to stop it’. According to Mrs Cowe, the incidents had ‘a serious set of effects on the resident’. The patient, who has since passed away, ‘never used to wet the bed’, she said, but after the incident she began to do so and feared the night shift when Bartolome and the other worker were there.
Now, we do not know what local people think of these things which have happened when Meallmore Limited, who have care homes not just across the country in Scotland but in England too, have been in charge of the care of these and other elderly residents of their homes. As for them now taking over the Langcraigs Care Home in Dumbarton, we can just imagine what local people think.
The message from the council’s spin doctors is that we’ll just have to get our imagination caps on. They said it is not their responsibility to look into the background of people they are selling premises to and that it’s a matter for the Care Commission to decide whether Meallmore or any other care company should be allowed to operate.
A West Dunbartonshire Council spokesperson said: “The IRED Committee agreed, at a meeting on August 16, to sell the Langcraigs site to an established care home company who will continue to operate it to the benefit of the local community.”
Pressed to be more open, he added: “Any bid put forward on the sale of a Council asset is assessed on its own merits. Social Care and Social Work Improvement Scotland (SCSWIS) have the responsibility for assessing all aspects of proposed new operators before they can become the registered operators of care homes.
“The Care inspectorate will also ensure homes meet the required standard prior to opening. IRED stands for Infrastructure, Regeneration and Economic Development.”
I am not certain that this statement will put the public’s mind at rest about this matter. Well, I am and it won’t.
Langcraigs Care Home – sold by the Council for £250,000 less than highest offer.
Later we wrote that one of Scotland’s largest independent care home operators has announced today that it is expanding its empire into West Dunbartonshire after securing a £41 million funding package.
Inverness-based Meallmore Ltd will use the cash to purchase two new sites for future developments and refurbish some of its 25 homes across Scotland.
Meallmore already owns Langcraigs and the site could have been used for social housing for which there is a dire need in West Dunbartonshire.
But the Langcraigs residents were moved up the hill to Overtoun Estate, where a large, £10 million facility had been built at Crosslet House, behind the Timber Houses, with a capacity to accommodate more than 80 residents.
The elderly and frail residents now in Crosslet are drawn mainly from the homes which have closed, including Willox Park, Dalreoch and Langcraigs, which had been strategically placed within communities across West Dunbartonshire.
A previous Labour council closed the old “poor house”, which was in Townend Hospital and passed for elderly care in another unenlightened era.
The intention was to provide a modern approach to elderly care which would allow residents to remain in familiar, comfortable surroundings and to meet familiar faces from the communities they came from.
However, this did not materialise and Crosslet House sadly turned out to be disastrously hit by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Things were so bad there that investigative journalists from BBC Scotland’s Disclosure programme team came to Dumbarton to do a documentary on it. Part of it revealed that some patients had DNR (Do Not Resuscitate) notices included in their notes without their knowledge or without the consent of their families.
Meallmore said that the generous funding from HSBC (a large international bank) will help the company complete the construction of new home in Dumbarton and an additional care home in Aberdeen.
The new Langcraigs was scheduled to open some time “over the next two years”, but no firmer date has been given.
Meallmore operations director Mary Preston said: “The care home sector has had a challenging year, and reflecting on the past few months has only solidified our belief that more investment is needed to make sure that care homes are delivering for the needs of residents.”
Meallmore specialises in dementia care, nursing care, specialist adult care as well as respite and short-stay care, but nothing was mentioned in its press release about its questionable history which includes significant failings.
Nothing was mentioned then about the company’s emphasis now on mental health, which it has become fashionable to endorse in the care of the elderly sector.
The Democrat asked why the council had sold Langcraigs at such a low price. It was below £1 million and £250,000 less than a construction firm had tendered for it to build housing on the site.
SNP Cllr Iain McLaren, who spoke up for the company at the meeting – where he got his information is not known – where the decision was made and the price was agreed, said Meallmore would be excellent purchasers of Langcraigs.
He vouched for the good name of Meallmore. It would be acceptable to sell Langcraigs and send the old folk, along with the residents of other local residential homes in Dumbarton and the Vale of Leven up the into the hills at Crosslet, where access was difficult and dangerous to the extent that a pedestrian crossing was required to keep people safe.
That took a long time coming when the Scottish Government dragged its heels on the project and residents, staff and visitors to Crosslet experience some hairy moments in the interim.
A schoolgirl was knocked down on the main crossing point to Crosslet on the A82 and at last the council decided to put in place a safe crossing with traffic lights.Care Home in Gooseholm, Dumbarton, which was sold to them by West Dunbartonshire Council for a knock down price of less than £1 million.
SNP Cllr Iain McLaren refused to discuss the sale with The Democrat, who asked if proper background checks had been done on Meallmore, and exactly why it was felt the home should be sold for £250,000 less than the highest bid made for it.
Crosslet House had been built by a Labour council and adopted by the SNP despite expert advice that old people were best served by keeping them in the community and interacting with the community.
The £10 million “super” residential home was far from central or in any way conducive to community interaction.
Apart from that, it looked architecturally more like a headquarters for the Stasi than an old people’s home.
We asked Cllr McLaren if he would care to answer the question I put to him six months before about the sale of Langcraigs. He had never replied to my e mail.
How could you be so complimentary about Meallmore, I asked, when all you had to do was google their name to discover that allegations made against them by the relative of at least one resident it were true.
Cllr McLaren seemed shocked, almost as if he had never in his political life before been asked a question by a journalist. But then, he hadn’t been.
Did West Dunbartonshire Council and the Health and Social Care Partnership do any research into the background of the care home company that offered to buy Langcraigs? Surely you must have done that at least, I asked?
At this point his embarrassed colleague Cllr Marie McNair, pictured left, who is now an MSP almost disappeared under the table, but she too said nothing.
She became vice chair of the Health and Social Care Partnership, which has special responsibility for care homes. The chair is an un-elected accountant.
Ms McNair is also now the SNP member for the Clydebank seat in the Scottish Parliament.
Quite apart from the council passing up the opportunity to use this site to build social housing, which was mooted by some, it was remarkable that the Health and Social Care Partnershiphad decided Meallmore was a fit and proper company to take care of elderly residents.
A cursory look at the company’s record in the care of the elderly field is deeply disturbing.
All WDC councillors – and officials – had to do to find out was to do what The Democrat did.
This was to Google Meallmore’s name into their computer to discover that the following report appeared on BBC Scotland’s investigative news programmes last year:
An Aberdeenshire care home has apologised after an elderly resident was left severely bruised from a fall. It is believed Jill Symmonds, 78, fell from the toilet while suffering a seizure at Sunnybank Care Home, Cruden Bay. Mrs Symmonds’ family claims that no-one from the care home called to let them know about the incident. Meallmore Ltd, which runs the care home, said the lack of contact was “unacceptable”. Mrs Symmonds’ granddaughter, Emma Stephen, published a Facebook post condemning the incident, which has been shared more than 1,000 times. In the post, she said her family did not find out about the fall until nine hours after Mrs Symmonds had been taken to hospital, and even then, they were only told after calling Sunnybank themselves. She also said her grandmother, who suffers from dementia and epilepsy, had previously broken both her legs in separate incidents due to being left alone on the toilet. The fall left Mrs Symmonds with two black eyes and severe bruising around her face.
Unfortunately, this is not the only record of similar incidents at this company’s care homes.
There are records of a 91-year-old resident being attacked by a fellow resident in a Meallmore home in Inverness, receiving head injuries.
And of a 32-year-old with mental health issues lying dead for up to a week in their flat while allegedly being supervised by Meallmore care staff.
There was also publicly available a report of an incident when a resident with Parkinson’s disease was humiliated and bullied by staff at a Meallmore residential home.
We wrote at the time: “How the H&SCP can approve this organisation to take care of some of our most vulnerable elderly resident’s beggars belief. This decision to sell this land to this company needs reviewed before legal documents are signed.”
But there were no further communications on these disclosures. West Dunbartonshire Council ignored us. They remained as silent about this as they eventually did about the unacceptably high number of deaths at Crosslet House Care Home.
We asked some Crosslet House staff members and relatives of residents how they felt about what had happened.
They said the home, which boasts a modern cinema room, outdoor terrace, internet rooms, gardens, hair salon and nail bar and provides 84 beds for elderly residents, particularly those with dementia wasn’t as good as their previous much smaller community homes.
People – both staff and residents – were having a hard time settling in. The atmosphere was not the same as in the smaller community homes. Crosslet was too far away, awkward – and expensive – to get to by taxi and there were added dangers about elderly people having to cross the busy A82 to reach it from the bus stop at the foot of Argyll Avenue.
Officially, the council, whose alleged policy is to be open and transparent, and the majority of councillors of all parties clammed up, although Community Party councillor Jim Bollan did say the whole thing was “scandalous”.
But then he had been critical of West Dunbartonshire Council from the outset for centralising their own social care services and then allowing the private care sector to move in and “make a profit from the care of our elderly”.
Council officers however recommended that the authority’s infrastructure, regeneration and economic development committee approve the sale of Langcraigs.
Although, and despite the existence of the new “super” home, the reason given was that there was still a requirement for more care home beds locally.
There still is a shortage, but the word on the street is that people in West Dunbartonshire are being extremely circumspect about placing their relatives in a care home – any care home.
Cllr Bollan said at the time of the Langcraigs sale: “This proposal by the health and social care partnership stinks to high heaven. Once more the public are being duped into believing the argument that big is better and the centralisation of council care services for the elderly is good for them.
“This has been thrown back in our faces through them allowing the private care sector to take over Langcraigs and make a profit from the care of our elderly. Scandalous.”
Langcraigs – All locked up and moved into private sector for £250,000 less than the highest offer.
Sadly, it may have taken the Covid-19 pandemic to shine a new spotlight into the dark corner of the care homes business in West Dunbartonshire and nationwide.
The management team at West Dunbartonshire Council have in the past few days been re-designated as Chief Officers and have had their salaries increased by £12,000 a year at a time when there is an ongoing pandemic and a pay freeze in place for public service workers, some of whom are on furlough and others are using food banks.
Is it any wonder that they have cut off communications with The Democrat?
Despite the fact that Meallmore’s description of the home, which has been renamed Alderwood, does not match the reality, which is more in line with refurbishment that happens on the Homes Under the Hammer TV programme, Langcraigs is now open and advertising for staff in competition with West Dunbartonshire Council. Which, given the huge staff shortages in care homes, is something else the HSCP failed to take into account when they sold Langcraigs and the other homes.
This is an example of their advertising and of the publicity they received in the Dumbarton Reporter when the premises opened in March 2021:
Links to Meallmore stories …
https://democratonline.net/2018/01/29/the-democrat-80/
https://democratonline.net/2020/05/14/big-care-homes-are-a-bad-idea/
https://democratonline.net/2019/08/14/dumbarton-care-homes-in-the-spotlight/
https://democratonline.net/2019/04/21/why-are-our-old-folk-hidden-away-in-the-hills/
https://democratonline.net/2018/11/26/care-homes-sold-off/
https://democratonline.net/2018/11/26/care-homes-sold-off/
https://democratonline.net/2018/03/14/the-democrat-208/
Our friendly team at Meallmore are looking for a Deputy Manager to join us at Alderwood House Care Home. Alderwood House is a purpose-built mental health care home in Dumbarton offering personalised nursing care to adults enduring or recovering from a mental disorder. Our experienced, friendly and compassionate team specialise in caring for vulnerable people with specific mental health needs using programmes which help to support a resident’s recovery.
You will appreciate the clinical and social expertise required in your role as Deputy Manager and we are asking you to:
· Work closely with our care home manager to lead, and develop, the nursing and care team.
· Utilise your skills to provide consistently high-quality care and clinical oversight for your residents.
· Comply with Statutory and Regulatory requirements.
· Ensuring Meallmore’s corporate standards, policies, procedures and technology systems are adhered to.
· Acting up in the home manager’s absence and supporting the team on occasion out of hours.
Qualifications and skills:
· RGN or RMN with relevant experience, registered with NMC
· Proven clinical experience.
· Excellent communication skills.
· Understanding of regulatory requirements.
· Self-motivation and resilience.
What we can offer you:
You’ll be joining an Investors in People Gold accredited company, so you know already that developing our people is important to us.
· Hourly overtime rates available
· Free uniform
· Investment in your ongoing professional development, including our mentorship scheme and clinical skills training
· Refer a friend bonus scheme (up to £1000)
· Pension scheme
· Company sick pay scheme
Salary: £44,228 per annum + overtime rates + benefits
Hours: 37.37 hours a week
If you want to be part of our Meallmore family and this sounds like you, please click apply.
Please note that all job offers are subject to satisfactory references and Disclosure Scotland Scheme Membership (PVG).
Remember: You should never send cash or cheques to a prospective employer, or provide any financial information. Please get in touch if you see any roles asking for payments or financial details from you. For more information, visit jobsaware.co.uk.
Alderwood House: new Dumbarton care home opens
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A BRAND new residential care facility for adults with mental health difficulties and acquired brain injuries has now opened in Dumbarton.
Located on Gooseholm Road, the purpose-built, 32-bed care facility Alderwood House offers an environment that meets all regulatory requirements, and welcomed its first residents on March 22.
The team at Alderwood House, staffed by leading care provider Meallmore Ltd, consists of mental health support workers, registered mental health nurses and general adult nurses, and is led by manager Barbara McDonald who brings a wealth of expertise in developing and managing mental health facilities, and over 30 years of sector experience.
After qualifying as a mental health nurse, Barbara worked in a range of NHS, voluntary and third-sector roles across the west of Scotland, specialising in continuing care, rehabilitation and community psychiatric nursing, as well as developing specialist mental health and learning disability services in the community.
Barbara said: “Alderwood House will provide industry-leading mental health care and support to individuals who require this service.
“There is a real need for specialised residential care facilities across Scotland to support people with complex mental health issues and provide rehabilitation opportunities, and we are proud to open this new service in Dumbarton.
“We are extremely grateful to the local community for welcoming the service and in particular the support from local GP practices and Community Mental Health Teams.
“What has impressed me so far about Meallmore is the company’s dedication to investing in its staff.
“All staff at Alderwood House have undergone weeks of stringent training to support residents with specific mental health needs.
“All of our staff are looking forward to welcoming residents to Alderwood House.”
There is now a great debate at national level about how the Scottish government will embark on a policy to solve the problems of the care service for the elderly homes.
Here is an excerpt from the debate which took place at Holyrood:
On Monday, the BBC revealed that the national health service crisis created by this Government had got so bad that health leaders had discussed charging for treatment. In response, the health secretary said that that was “abhorrent”. However, the truth is that there is already a two-tier healthcare system in Scotland. Can the First Minister tell the chamber how many procedures were carried out in private hospitals in Scotland in the past year?
I will provide that precise figure, but, as I have just said to Douglas Ross, the number of people who self-fund for private care in Scotland is significantly lower than it is in England—actually, it is even more significantly lower in Scotland than it is in Wales, where Labour is in power. That is the reality, because we protect our national health service in these difficult times, and we always will.
Anas Sarwar talks about paying for treatment. I repeat: this is the Government that abolished prescription charges—something that Labour had many opportunities over many years to do but failed completely to do. Just as I will take no lessons about the founding principles of the national health service from the Conservatives, I will take none from Labour.
Perhaps the First Minister will take lessons from the people who are having to actually pay for treatment in Scotland. In the past year, more than 39,000 patients were treated privately in Scotland. That does not include the many private treatments that were carried out in individual clinics such as dental surgeries. The number of people now paying for treatment without health insurance has increased by 72 per cent. Often, those are people who are forced to borrow money, turn to family and friends or even remortgage their homes to get healthcare that should be free at the point of need.
I know that the First Minister does not like facts, but let us look at the facts. Almost 2,000 people have gone private for endoscopies and colonoscopies. Those treatments cost an average of £1,195 privately. More than 7,800 people have gone private for cataract surgery, the average cost of which is £2,660. A staggering 3,500 people have had a hip or knee replacement in a private hospital. The average cost of that is £12,500.
Those figures make it clear that, under the Scottish National Party, healthcare in Scotland is already a two-tier system. Does the First Minister accept that that goes against the founding principles of our national health service as a universal healthcare system free at the point of need?
No, I do not accept that, and I do not accept that we have a two-tier health system in Scotland. We will always act to protect the founding principles of the NHS, and we have done more than any other Government to achieve that.
The one thing that was completely missing from Anas Sarwar’s question, of course, was reference to a global pandemic that caused the cancellation and pausing of elective services in our national health service for a considerable period of time. That is why we have seen an increase in those figures in recent years. However, those figures remain significantly below the comparable figures in England and Wales. Let me remind Anas Sarwar that his own party is in government and running the national health service in Wales.
As we continue to progress the NHS recovery plan and get more operations done within waiting times in the national health service, we will continue to see the benefits of NHS care free at the point of need for everyone across Scotland.
The First Minister’s response is to deny the facts. It is not a good enough excuse to say that, because there was a pandemic, that made it okay for people to have to go private and pay for treatment.
The First Minister denies that we have a two-tier system. In 2021, 40 per cent of all hip and knee replacements in Scotland were paid for privately. Some 3,430 people paid to get a hip or knee replacement privately. Our NHS is at risk because of the Government’s choices and the Government’s crisis. After 15 years in government, there is no one else to blame. Take responsibility for your record. Hospital beds have been cut, and nursing and midwifery training places have been cut. There are record long waits in accident and emergency. Some 750,000 Scots are on an NHS waiting list, and people are being forced to go into debt to go private. That undermines the very principles of our national health service, which is the Labour Party’s and our country’s greatest-ever public service achievement. Does it not get clearer every single day that our NHS is not safe in SNP hands?
We have record numbers of people working in our national health service. There are significantly more than there were when this Government took office and there are significantly more proportionately than there are in any other part of the United Kingdom, including in Wales, where Labour is in government.
On how we are responding, Anas Sarwar says that the pandemic should not be used as an excuse. I agree with that, but its impact on our national health service cannot be ignored. In all the figures that he quotes, he takes no account of the impact of a global pandemic on our national health service.
What are we doing? We are building up the capacity of our NHS. In response to Douglas Ross’s questions, I referred to one of the things that I did when I was health secretary. I brought back into public ownership Stracathro hospital, which had been privatised by the last Labour Administration. [Interruption.] Jackie Baillie was, of course, a member of that Administration. Earlier this year, we brought another private sector hospital—Carrick Glen hospital in Ayrshire—into public ownership. That facility will be developed to become one of our new national treatment centres.
We are building up the elective capacity of our NHS to treat more people. That is the practical action that the Government is taking. We will take that action and we always will take that action while we protect the founding principles of our national health service.