Leicestershire care home resident 'died emaciated'

A care home resident died emaciated with old food left in his mouth and missing his own clothes, his family claim.

Cyril Sharman, who had dementia, lived at Holmes House in Wigston, Leicestershire, until late 2017.

His daughters Tracey Oakes and Lisa Sharman said staff at the hospital where he died said they had never seen a patient in such poor condition.

Prime Life Ltd, which runs the home, has declined to comment.

Ms Sharman told the Local Democracy Reporting Service the father-of-three was "just so happy and lovely" but declined quickly when dementia set in.

She said he was taken into care but the treatment he received caused her a great deal of concern.

"I complained every time I went about the state of him, what he looked like, his room, him missing drinks, missing his dinner," she said.

"One day we went on a Sunday, he'd just had his dinner. I don't think he even ate his dinner because his teeth weren't glued into his head and they were falling down when he was talking.

"His clothes went missing, the clothes that he wore weren't his clothes. His Christmas presents went missing."

The family also said they constantly found him wet from incontinence.

On the weekend he died in 2017, Mr Sharman was admitted to Leicester Royal Infirmary where a safeguarding concern was raised over his condition.

"They said they had never seen anybody in such a bad state and they raised safeguarding issues," said Ms Oakes.

"[They] said when he arrived, he had food in his mouth from a few days ago.

"Someone in the hospital said he looked like a victim of Auschwitz.

"My father was so emaciated that when he was in the funeral home, the lady said they had to pack the coffin out because there was nothing on him.

"It's heartbreaking and I try not to think about it."

The family said a county council safeguarding inquiry concluded basic care was not met, there was a lack of communication with the family and notes were not taken properly.

Leicestershire County Council confirmed it carried out the report but said it did not comment on individual cases.

A spokesperson said: "The county council is committed to ensuring there is good-quality care given to older and vulnerable people."

Holmes House was rated "good" in its last full Care Quality Commission (CQC) assessment in 2017, although concerns about people's items were raised.

Monthly data assessments by the healthcare watchdog, the most recent of which took place on 9 December, said there was no "evidence that [it needed] to carry out an inspection or reassess [its] rating at this stage".

University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust said it was not commenting on the case.

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