Whittlesey care death family 'lied to', inquest hears

The granddaughter of a 97-year-old care home resident who died told an inquest she felt she had been "lied to" and was offered money by the company.

Margaret Canham was one of three people, who had been at The Elms in Whittlesey, Cambridgeshire, to die within weeks of each other in 2019.

Her granddaughter Kim Arden said Mrs Canham had been "subjected to a catalogue of failings and danger".

The home, run by HC-One, closed down last year and was labelled "not safe".

The inquest into the death of Mrs Canham is the first of three to be heard this week at Peterborough Town Hall, preceding those of other residents George Lowlett and David Poole.

Relatives had told the BBC last year that their loved ones died weeks after a meeting in which worries were raised about "poor care".

In a statement read by coroner Caroline Jones, Ms Arden said she felt she had "been lied to, misled and offered money by HC-One" - the UK's biggest care company.

The coroner said the inquest would look at issues surrounding Mrs Canham's condition, particularly in the three days prior to her admission to hospital on 14 February 2019.

Ms Arden's statement said that in January 2019 she had felt the home was "neglecting [her] nan" and later said she felt the home "had put money over care".

The family had begun proceedings to move Mrs Canham out of the home, but she was admitted to hospital prior to this happening.

The Elms was rated inadequate by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) last year, around the same time Cambridgeshire County Council suspended referrals to HC-One homes.

But Ms Arden said "every failing in the CQC and council reports" were those she had previously raised.

She said staffing levels were low, and the inquest heard from registered mental health nurse Simone McIntyre who worked at The Elms and said there were sometimes one nurse for 30 residents.

The inquest heard that the home had four different sheets where information could be logged on individuals.

Ms McIntyre accepted in questioning that this had the potential for information to be missed, and added: "I think that's something really important to learn from."

Another member of staff, senior carer David Redford, added that he believed there "wasn't adequate training" on record keeping.

Mr Redford said when he left her on the morning of 14 February, Mrs Canham - who had an elevated temperature - was eating her breakfast, but Ms Arden said she had a picture taken afterwards with "breakfast totally untouched".

The inquest heard that Mrs Canham had been assessed by a number of people as needing a GP that morning but the surgery could not get anyone to them immediately as there was only one person on-call.

Mrs Canham was admitted to Peterborough City Hospital later that day and died there on 23 February.

From February 2019, Ms Arden contacted the CQC nine times highlighting issues, the inquest heard, while others were also expressing concerns, but the home was not inspected until August 2019 when it was rated as requiring improvement in all areas.

Hazel Roberts, from the CQC, acknowledged "it looks like we didn't go out quickly enough" and "I can only apologise that didn't happen".

The inquest continues.

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