The concerned daughter of an Aberdeenshire care home resident has described the “unbelievable neglect” her mum has experienced.
Aileen Ingram, from Drumblade, has criticised Balhousie Huntly for sweeping issues under the carpet and not investing in its staff amidst a string of incidents including health complications from an alleged lack of care.
Her mum, Carol Duguid, moved into the care home in October 2019 and is one of eight people who are cared for in the dementia ward, known as the Blue Unit.
Families have continuously raised concerns about the care provided and have been fighting to set up meetings with officials.
Now they have been informed the dementia ward will be closed and residents will all have to be moved to other homes across Aberdeenshire.
“Taking my mum out won’t solve anything because the problems will still go on,” Mrs Ingram said.
“When she first went in it was a fantastic place, but since the pandemic things haven’t been good.
“It doesn’t come easy putting them into a home and you trust them to look after your relatives. And then you come away and think: ‘It’s bad enough when you’re in, what happens when you’re not there?’
“We’re not asking a lot, we’re just asking for our families to be looked after.”
Operators Balhousie Care Group has stressed staff are committed to providing care but says recruitment issues have made keeping the ward open impossible.
Tarland care home also affected
Family members of Blue Unit residents were called to a meeting on Thursday where they were told the dementia service was being withdrawn.
Mrs Ingram said: “The meeting was awful, being told families are to be moved out of the place. Balhousie makes promises but as soon as there’s any kind of trouble, they’re closing the place.”
Aberdeenshire Health and Social Care Partnership confirmed they are working to find new care home places for those impacted.
Due to the lack of beds available across the region, it is possible they could end up miles away from Huntly.
Residents will also be moved out of the Balhousie Alastrean Care Home in Tarland.
Neglect is ‘unbelievable’
Mrs Ingram has described a situation where her mother fell ill because nobody was helping her clean her teeth, and another when a resident came into her room and smeared faeces on her belongings when not being supervised.
“It wasn’t the man’s fault, but where were the staff who should have been watching him? That just shouldn’t happen,” she said.
On another occasion, Mrs Ingram said she had to break-up an altercation between residents in a common area herself as the agency care staff on duty stood “terrified” in the next room.
She added: “We’re fortunate my mum is able to take herself way away from danger and is still quite mobile, but not everyone is like that.
“They’re taking more than £1,800 a week from families. They’ve taken the price of folk’s farms and houses from them, and they can’t even clean their teeth. The neglect is unbelievable.”
Care Inspectorate concerns
In August last year, the home received its second “weak” rating in the space of three months for its support of people’s wellbeing.
The Care Inspectorate carried out an unannounced inspection and found residents “sat for long periods of time disengaged and often falling asleep due to lack of stimulation”.
The report added that there were missed opportunities to offer support, including failing to help people across the gardens, having conversations with residents or carrying out activities.
Mrs Ingram said: “The standards go up for about a fortnight and then they’re back to where they started.”
One of the main issues raised by Mrs Ingram, which is echoed in recent Care Inspectorate reports, is the staff turnover at the home.
“It’s an absolute disgrace,” she said. “In the time my mum has been up there, we’re on care manager number seven
The Balhousie Care Group says it has faced challenges recruiting and retaining care home staff in Huntly, while stressing they strive to provide quality care.
A spokeswoman said: “Our hardworking Huntly staff maintain unwavering dedication to their residents: their care and respect are always at the heart of everything they do.
“We are acutely aware, as are the wider public, that the staffing crisis underpins the extreme pressures faced by the care sector nationwide, and no less for us in our more rural homes.
“Yet, despite doggedly exploring all avenues to encourage and invest in local recruitment, we remain unable find consistently suitably trained and qualified staff.
“It is for this reason alone we have had to take the very difficult decision to close the specialist dementia unit at our Huntly care home.
“We are fully committed to working with our residents, their families and care managers to ensure those moving find the right home for them.”
Conversation