HC-One: Rape and neglect among closing homes' complaints

Rape, neglect and staff assaulting residents were among the complaints recorded at a group of care homes which are being shut down.

Forty-six allegations across four years were recorded by police at the five homes run by HC-One in Cambridgeshire, figures obtained by the BBC revealed.

They included an alleged attempted rape by one resident on another, which was prevented when he fell due to frailty.

HC-One said no action was taken by police in relation to the complaints.

The provider's record in Cambridgeshire has been under the spotlight in recent years, with the company admitting unacceptable mistakes in the 2019 deaths of three residents at The Elms care home in Whittlesey, which closed last year.

After the county council stopped all new placements, the provider said in August the remaining homes were no longer viable and would close.

Through the Freedom of Information Act, the BBC obtained the crime reports recorded by Cambridgeshire Police at the five HC-One run homes between September 2019 and August 2023.

Six complaints related to sexual offences were recorded in total, including an allegation of rape at The Gables in Whittlesey in 2020.

It is not known whether the alleged perpetrator or victim were residents or staff at the home.

Other incidents recorded related to male workers at other homes, detailing one at The Cambridge in the Chesterton area of the city where the "aggrieved has alleged a male carer has touched her inappropriately whilst dealing with her personal care".

Two further sexual offence complaints were recorded at The Gables, both with male suspects who were residents.

One of them was detailed as: "Male suspect lives in a care home and has gone into female victim's bedroom pulling the bedding off of her and then pulled her underwear down."

The alleged recorded crimes also include another incident at The Gables, reported after the victim's death and listed as "care provider breach duty of care resulting in ill-treatment/neglect of individual".

"Carers at a care home in Whittlesey over a period of days possibly even months have assaulted the elderly victim and shows several incidents of neglect such as eating his food," the data revealed.

A spokesperson for HC-One said: "The health, safety and wellbeing of residents and colleagues is of the utmost importance to us, and we take our responsibility to all of those in our care very seriously.

"We look after people with very complex needs, and therefore we follow best practice and record and report all events and potential events.

"We have stringent safeguarding processes in place for both our residents and colleagues, and we follow all due process to report these events to our external partners, including the police.

"We have conducted a thorough investigation into the alleged incidents in question, and based on our records, no further action was taken by the police or by our regulator the Care Quality Commission [CQC] in respect of any of the alleged incidents."

A spokesman for the council said: "These were allegations, not crimes, all of which were fully investigated by the police and on which no further action was taken - either by the police or the CQC.

"As such, allegations are not shared with either new residents or the safeguarding board."

The other two homes being closed by HC-One were the Manor House in Upwood and The Red House in Ramsey.

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