Harrowing photos show how a dementia suffer has been left with facial bruises and other injuries whilst living in a care home, which her daughters claim have neglected her.
Jeanette Clayton and Lisa Burkinshaw say their 77-year-old mum Rita has been left to fall frequently at Abbey Grange Care and Nursing Home in Sheffield due to a lack of staff working on the floor.
The two women also say their mother often has soiled clothes, hasn’t showered for weeks and is sitting in an uncomfortable position, with her head hanging low and neck unsupported.
These issues were echoed by the daughter and grandson of another resident, who stayed at Abbey Grange – rated ‘good’ in all categories by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) – between 2022 and 2023.
They all feel the issues their loved ones has faced were linked to staff not being well-equipped to deal with their complex needs, as there is no mandatory dementia training for staff working in care homes.
Jeanette Clayton and Lisa Burkinshaw say their mum Rita has been left to fall frequently at Abbey Grange Care and Nursing Home in Sheffield due lack of staff working on the floor
The two women also claim their mother often has soiled clothes, hasn’t showered for weeks and is sitting in an uncomfortable position, with her head hanging low and neck unsupported
Jeannete told Sky News: ‘I sat down in chairs, many a time, soaked with urine.
‘Every time we went, my mum was wet through, we were having to ask them to change her.’
Lisa added: ‘I once walked in and there were three carers, with their coats on, standing there watching my mum folded in half in a chair. I said, “has anybody thought to bring a pillow in for her?”‘
In the home’s last inspection in July 2022, the CQC found ‘people received safe care at Abbey Grange’, while ‘staff understood how to protect people from the risk of harm’.
This view is not shared by Rita’s daughters, who say the former winner of a ‘glamorous Granny’ competition has been failed by the people who look after her, as they are told all of their mothers falls are ‘unwitnessed’
Those issues were echoed by the daughter and grandson of another resident, who say they feel regret about their relatives staye at Abbey Grange between 2022 and 2023.
The residents daughter said: ‘We noticed, when we came to visit, he was always in dirty clothes, and he had a smell about him, an unclean smell,’ said the former resident’s daughter.
‘We started to notice the poo was dried on. When we tried to clean him, it was hurting him, he was in pain, and obviously he must have been sat in that for a long time, for him to get like that.
‘I started to ask, “what’s going on? This can’t be normal; this can’t be right”.’
A former staff member at the care home told Sky News she had to ‘learn on the job’, after originally working at the home having completed training online, but not in person at the home.
The care unit would often see two members of staff working with up to 26 dementia patients.
Britain’s leading dementia charity says a lack of staff training in care homes is a part of an adult social care system that is failing people with the illness.
She said: ‘It’s only because you’d watch other staff, you’d pick it up that way,’
‘You don’t have any moving and handling experience, there’s certain ways you can pick them up, lift them and help them and stuff, support them.
‘So if I’d have gone in and just basically rolled a lady over who had fragile skin, I could have tore her skin.’
In a statement, Jennifer Keen, the Head of Policy at the Alzheimer’s Society, said: “Dementia is the UK’s biggest killer.
“There are 900,000 people living with dementia in the UK, and although the majority of people who draw on adult social care have dementia, the social care system is not currently set up properly to meet their needs.
“Decades of underfunding by successive governments has resulted in dementia care that is costly, difficult to access, and too often not personalised.
“Not all care staff have the understanding and skills in the specific care needs of someone living with dementia.”
Abbey Grange have been approached for a comment.
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resident’s grandson, who also regularly came to visit him, also had concerns about his alleged lack of physical and mental stimulation, especially as someone who enjoyed spending time outside before he fell ill.
‘He was always an active bloke, he was always doing something, he used to walk into town, he would cycle, he was always doing something, so to then be in a tiny room, just sat in silence, it’s horrible to think about.’
feel the issues they faced were linked to staff not being well-equipped to deal with the complex needs of their loved ones.
Sky News has also learned that there is no mandatory dementia training for staff working in care homes.
