Social Care News

Powys care home in spotlight over mistreatment of resident

A social services report on the abuse of a 73-year-old woman resident in a Powys care home is due out today.

Veronica Teal, a resident in the Bethshan Nursing Home in Newtown, Powys since November 2013, was seen being verbally abused and neglected in footage from a camera secretly installed by concerned family members.

The footage showed a carer challenging Mrs Teal on why she was not eating, calling her "selfish" and asking her if she wanted to die.

It also showed her catheter bag was not emptied for 26 hours, leaving her in significant pain.

Mario Kreft, Care Forum Wales' chair, was interviewed on Radio Wales' Good Morning Wales programme today (May 2) and said he was very disappointed to learn of the abuse at the home which is a member of Care Forum Wales.

Mr Kreft said: "CFW exists to promote and support members and I think what people have to recognise is how difficult this job is.

He continued: "These things have gone wrong and it's very clear that the management [of this home] understand that.

"An investigation has been carried out, people have been disciplined and I think we have to look at individual cases and where people don't follow process and where management isn't as strong as it should be and put that to one side.

"That doesn't necessarily mean that that home is not a good home, but clearly there have been failings and we fully accept that."

Ensuring appropriate standards of care

Mr Kreft added: "What we will be doing is offering the trustees of that charity and the management our support, particularly the manager, because I think people really do need to work in care homes to understand the complexity these days, how difficult the job is and the challenges that staff [in the sector] face.

"Nobody would possibly say that anything we've seen, we've witnessed, is correct however - of course it's not - and we really do think that Mrs Teal has had poor care in that circumstance."

On Thursday (May 1) Tina Donnelly, director of the Royal College of Nursing in Wales, criticised Mrs Teal's treatment and said she would ask the Care Council for Wales to investigate.

The trustees of Bethshan Nursing Home said they deeply regretted the verbal abuse and said that the employee involved had been disciplined and was undergoing further training.

• LISTEN: Radio Wales interview with Mario Kreft [at 01:07 minutes]
• READ MORE: BBC News: Report into Veronica Teal's abuse due out