Tag Archives: Care Quality Commission

HOLMWOOD HOUSE: CARE QUALITY COMMISSION TOOTHLESS

holwod hosueThe CQC is supposedly the independent regulator for inspecting health and social care settings so that the vulnerable remain safe from harm and exploitation in care homes and the like.

They became famous in the wake of the WINTERBOURNE VIEW home scandal, where animals masquerading as human care workers routinely abused adults with learning difficulties.  The situation was highlighted by BBC’s PANORAMA using a hidden camera.  The CQC came later.

When Bristol City Council closed all their residential care homes for the elderly in 2013 due to cuts, they promised that the existing residents would be transferred to safe care settings.

“Don’t worry,” they said,” the CQC will INSPECT AND CLOSE any homes that do not reach tough standards.”

What a load of bollox. As the BRISTOLIAN’s investigation of Holmwood House has revealed, the home has failed every inspection for the last five years, killed a resident and is now subject to legal action but it’s still open for business!

The CQC web site says that there are currently 77 settings classed as ‘INADEQUATE’ and 316 ‘NEEDING IMPROVEMENT’.  Which is just funky unless it’s your nan lying all day in her own urine, hoping that somebody will turn her over to ease the bed sores.  Why don’t they shut these homes?

The answer is LACK OF PROVISION. Councils have been forced to shut all their homes. So if inspectors suggest closure, the money grabbing care home bosses  supported by council bosses  say, “OK. Fine. But where are you going to put the residents?”

Look at Holmwood House with over 100 residents, many placed there by Bristol City Council. The truth is that dodgy care home bosses have FREE REIN to rake in money by paying care workers a pittance in under staffed settings while the vulnerable suffer and in some cases die.

This comes after the elderly have paid their national insurance all their lives and, sometimes, have had to sell their homes to pay for their abuse.

And it will continue because nobody cares unless you start caring.

DON’T MENTION THE WAR!

 

holwod hosue

The publication of a report into the death of Kathleen Cole who passed away within days of leaving “THE HOUSE OF HORRORS” – Holmwood House care home – in 2013 (BRISTOLIAN passim) saw our posh Green councillors go on the attack … Criticising, er, WORKING CLASS Bristolians for their use of language!

The recently completed independent report commissioned by Bristol City Council upheld FOUR complaints by Mrs Cole’s daughter, Annette Whiting,  arising from her mother’s death.
Bristol City Council also had to APOLOGISE to Annette for failing to explain to her how their care system operated and how she might have effectively complained to them to get something done while her mother was still alive.

Instead Annette was allowed by council bosses to be SHUNNED by Holmwood
House who depicted her as a “TROUBLE-MAKER”. The home then restricted her ability to visit her mother and her movements around the care home while the home basically set about killing her mum through disgraceful mistreatment and neglect under the noses of indifferent council bosses.

In 2013 Bristol City Council wholly accepted Holmwood’s House’s view of Annette as a “troublemaker” and her efforts to communicate concerns to the council were THWARTED by the council bosses’ refusal to respond to correspondence or to return phone calls. By the time the council did respond and agree to move Mrs Coles from their hell home, it was too late and Mrs Coles was DEAD within ten days.

It should also be noted that FOUR safeguarding concerns were raised to the council by professionals with regard to Kathleen in the space of EIGHT months in 2012-13. And the home FAILED seven CQC inspections in two years (2011-13) while Kathleen lived there. Surely this should have given credibility to Annette’s complaints and concerns, not led to her being ostracised?

Given these startling facts, a member of the public, our old friend Steve Norman who originally exposed the scandal in 2013, took it upon himself to send councillors a copy of this report to highlight what has been happening in their elderly care service.

The email to councillors used some COLOURFUL LANGUAGE comparing council bosses and Mayor Murder’s illicit elderly care policies to genocide. Or more specifically to Adolf Hitler!
So it didn’t take long for a response to come from snooty green cabinet member Dani “HELL” Radice. “I find your reference to the Mayor as Adolf Hitler deeply offensive, along with all your comments about council officers, and so will not be entering intofurther correspondence,” she stormed.

She was supported by the Green’s latest posh Lib Dem turncoat Fi “LA-DI-DAH” Hance who spat back, “I concur with Cllr Radice’s comments. Please do not contact me again.”

So a big defence on pretty slim grounds of Mayor Kill-The-Poor and his culpable bosses here and no sign of any concern whatsoever that a working class Bristolian has been consigned to their grave by the conduct of the council they run. What a pair of charmers!

However, if this pair of gormless posh cows ever get their thick heads out of their politically correct arses they might want to think about this admission from their own managers in the report: “Bristol City Council does not have a threshold which would stop the Council commissioning care.”

In other words once these councillors have let their managers dump our elderly into their shit privatised death homes they have no way of getting them out again, regardless of what is happening to them.

And let’s remember that Kathleen Cole was sexually assaulted – effectively tortured – by pervy nurse, CECILE JOSEPH, who had a fetish for administering enemas to the vulnerable elderly.

But obviously institutionalised abuse resulting in DEATH is a mere trifle compared to mentioning Adolf Hitler in an email or being a bit rude about our posh mayor and a couple of useless middle managers.

Nice to see what the Greens’ priorities are, isn’t it?

Cold Comfort Farm

A massive SCANDAL is brewing over Bristol City Council’s commissioning process for their latest adult social care contract.

As usual, local organisations and charities have been FORCED OUT and a national company, based in the north – ‘Cold’ Comfort Call – have been awarded the lucrative contract by council boss LEON GODDARD. A right little wanker masquerading under the overblown title of “Strategic Commissioning Manager”.

Although a better title for Wanker Goddard might be “typical Bristol City Council bent boss” as a WHISTLEBLOWER has now stepped forward to blow the lid on Goddard’s DODGY procurement process and the “high levels of corruption involved”.

According to the whistleblower, an employee of ‘Cold’ Comfort Call, the company had PRIOR KNOWLEDGE of the commissioning process and a director of the firm even confidently asserted that they would WIN the tender before the  process even started!

The same director also told his staff that sensitive little soul, Wanker Goddard, wanted to “make a point” and not commission any LOCAL PROVIDERS in Bristol as he didn’t like them as they gave him “a hard time”.

An impressive and mature way to run a public sector procurement process for a vital service don’t you think?

Even worse, despite Wanker Goddard’s claim that Cold Comfort will deliver “the best possible service”, their record suggests something different.

In Sheffield and Nottingham, Cold Comfort were placed on safeguarding and barring lists after miserably FAILING Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspections. While the care they’re providing in those cities is described as “BARBARIC” by Cold Comfort’s whistleblower.

In Sheffield alone, the CQC had concerns relating to the management of medicines, requirements relating to workers, safeguarding people who use services from abuse, the care and welfare of people who used services, staffing and complaints.

Which makes you wonder how Cold Comfort were even allowed to be part of Goddard’s procurement process in the first place when one of his opening questions to bidders was “Have you ever failed a CQC inspection?”

Then there’s the question as to why Wanker Goddard didn’t obtain REFERENCES from Sheffield and Nottingham before awarding a multi-million pound contract on our behalf to Cold Comfort.

Questions, no doubt, Bristol City Council will simply NEVER BOTHER to answer as they move into cover-up mode.

George’s dickhead shit-for-brains legal boss Sanjay “Under” Pressure has already told the whistleblower, “We will be auditing the process before contracts are entered into in order to satisfy ourselves that our usual procurement process has been fully adhered too.”

Well, if that “auditing process” is anything  like the one in their Markets Service that’ll be at least three years of waiting and cover-ups before they get going then.

WHY PRIVATISATION MATTERS TO EVERYONE…

Writes The BRISTOLIAN‘s Social Care Correspondent:

So what’s this privatisation of public services thing all about, then?

Well, If you believe the papers, it’s the improvement of services because the workers who deliver them presently are lazy, incompetent, uneconomical and probably have a better pension than you. What a load of arse!

For starters most of the companies that are bidding to run our services also have shares in the media companies that peddle this one-sided MISINFORMATION.

The privatisation of public services means that large companies are providing services for the sick, elderly and vulnerable for financial gain. They have a legal duty towards their shareholders to MAXIMISE PROFIT – a duty that outweighs the rights of the service users or staff, who are often untrained, under resourced and on zero hours contracts with few checks on their background.

We are told that quangos like the Care Quality Commission monitor privatised care Well, they’ve inspected Holmwood House on numerous occasions and the home has FAILED EVERY TIME but they’ve been allowed to carry on regardless and people have died in the meantime.

After you’ve worked all your life and paid your National Insurance, you’d be hoping for some kindness and care with dignity. Tough. In all likelihood you’ll be laying there with your pyjamas round your ankles waiting for some sixteen year old on the Minimum Wage to perform a bowel evacuation on you. Her first time… Just like yours!

After all, they don’t want you being a nuisance and SHITTING YOURSELF because you’re in bed all day with nobody to take you to the toilet.

Meanwhile all that money you raised by selling your house to pay for it will wing its way to the Cayman Islands accounts of a private ‘care provider’. Fucking perky!

Let’s get down the Council House and do a bowel evacuation on those that are flogging off our care and see how they like it.

Anybody fancy some BRISTOLIAN-branded rubber gloves..?

“LIVES AT RISK” IN BRISTOL’S DAY CENTRES AS ‘COST CUTTING’ BY BARMY BOSSES SLASHES SERVICES FOR VULNERABLE PEOPLE

After The BRISTOLIAN blew the lid on the dangerous understaffing in Day Centres – which have seen service users with dementia and learning difficulties being lumped together despite the clear risks (see issue #4.11) – you would have thought that the BUNGLING BOSSES responsible would do something.

We stated that centres were running at nearly 50% staff absences. Things have now got even worse, with dim-witted managers making more than twenty people redundant!

Many of those ‘restructured’ out of their jobs were glad to be out and away from the CHAOS – yet also very concerned for those left behind and expected to work miracles with nowhere near the resources necessary.

Sources we have spoken to describe “a tangible fear that someone will die soon”.

Meanwhile management has started to realise that it will have to get casual workers in to plug the gaps, as even the lamentable Care Quality Commission won’t let them get away with such CHRONIC UNDER-STAFFING.

But here’s the kicker: the casual workers brought in – costing the council more money than the permanent staff – are likely to be the exact same people they made redundant only last month. That’s right – whilst they DEVASTATE the service, the idiots in charge can’t even save money.

It’s enough to make you wonder who has the learning difficulties.

THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE HOLMWOOD: THE CQC RETURNS TO BRISTOL’S HORROR HOME!

HOLMWOODHOUSEThe BRISTOLIAN has learned that care home regulators, the Care Quality Commission, have had to be called urgently back in to HOLMWOOD HOUSE in the last month after an 84 year old woman fell from a hoist.

It seems the woman was being lifted by a single member of staff – contrary to all health and safety regulations and advice – when she had the accident. Apparently the wrong sling had been fixed to the hoist and the woman fell straight through it.Web Exclusive

“The CQC have been crawling all over the home,” we’re told. This comes despite another safeguarding investigation in to the horror home by Bristol City Council last March, which came about after a medical practitioner attending the home had expressed concerns about “the use of slings, hoists and air mattresses for Mrs [Kathleen] Cole”, the deceased woman at the centre of the Holmwood storm.

The practitioner told the investigation that there was “poor management, training, staff resources and facilities inadequate for the needs of the patients.”

And the council’s safeguarding investigation report tells us that investigating on behalf of Holmwood House was – wait for it…  the struck off nurse ISLA MEEK! Which was absolutely fine by council social care boss, DAVID TOOLE and his crackpot safeguarding team who described her work as “appropriate and thorough”… So thorough, in fact, that an accident has happened within six months.

Bristol City Council also said in their report “that if further evidence became apparent it would be acted on”.

This obviously hasn’t happened as the horror home remains open and Bristol City Council continue to commission the home and currently have around 40 people placed in the death trap at a minimum cost of £600 A WEEK each.

The BRISTOLIAN has also been told about another resident of Holmwood who when admitted to Frenchay Hospital was found to be suffering from dehydration and malnutrition. She subsequently died.

How much more of this cruelty is Bristol City Council prepared to endure before they act decisively?

» If you’re concerned about what you’re reading and want some ACTION from Bristol City Council rather than reports, write to or phone the following and tell them “SHUT DOWN THE HORROR HOME NOW”!

Alison Comley
Director Health and Social Care
Email: alison.comley@bristol.gov.uk
Tel: 0117 353 7860

Mike Hennessey
Director Neighbourhoods
Email: mike.hennessey@bristol.gov.uk
Tel: 0117 903 7061 or 0117 352 1069

George Ferguson
Mayor
Email: mayor@bristol.gov.uk
Twitter: @georgefergusonx

BRISTOLIAN #4.9 NOW ON THE STREETS!

The BRISTOLIAN #4.9 - hitting the streets NOW!

The BRISTOLIAN #4.9 – hitting the streets NOW!

It’s been another busy month in Bristol, with no shortage of graft, payola or all-round incompetence to cover – but the latest paper (The BRISTOLIAN #4.9) is now on the streets, featuring…

» BRISTOL’S NEW HORROR HOME
Holmwood House care home is like something out of The Munsters. Except it’s really not funny.

» YOU’RE FIRED!
Skinner booted as the Curse of 100 Temple Street claims yet another management victim

» RED-FACED RED PANTS DOESN’T GET THE BIG PICTURE
Mayor ‘Now Fuck Off’ Ferguson loses his cool over The BRISTOLIAN in his Berchtesgarten

» AUDIT LATEST
Financial farrago at City Hall as fraud and non-compliance continues

» MARKET FARCES
They seek it here, they seek it there, they seek that damned elusive £165k everywhere…

» PRIVATE LAND, PRIVATE GAIN?
Why is a corporate property developer calling the shots at Wellington Hill Playing Fields?

» IS CITY OF BRISTOL COLLEGE BROKE?
City’s largest supplier of skills & training to youngsters on the brink

» JUNKET GEORGE UPDATE
Millionaire Mayor signs partnership deal with Chinese Communist Party bosses!

PLUS: BRISTOLIAN BITES!!!

Tantalising titbits including…

  • THINK OF THE CHILDREN!barney between Fergo’s true believers & Labour at charity bash
  • PRIMARY FAIL IndyRedpants election strategy off the rails already?
  • UNIFORMLY BADwhat’s going on at popular Totterdown school?
  • THIEVES IN THE TEMPLE£90 million budget cuts not affecting the consultancy gravy train
  • BEDROOM TAX LATEST – Council prepares to boot poor families onto street for Christmas
  • LEGAL NEWSpanicky BCC misrepresents own consultants’ findings on Mem impact
  • HOYT’S GOURMET JOY‘Assistant Mayor’ fills his face with food & reneges on ‘No Evictions’

…And all that for FREE!

See the Distribution page for your local stockist – and if there isn’t one near you, let us know!

CAN’T WAIT TO GET HOLD OF A PAPER COPY?

Then you can DOWNLOAD a PDF version here:

» The BRISTOLIAN #4.9 – December 2013