Care home great-gran found wandering streets

A residential care home in Sheffield confirmed it has suspended a member of staff and launched an investigation after an 86-year-old Alzheimer’s sufferer was found wandering the streets.

Great-grandmother Carrie Asbery was found by passing medical student Hassan Rehmani who said the Sheffield home where she lived did not even know she was missing.

Mr Rehmani, 21, said he took the pensioner to hospital because he feared she was on
the verge of hypothermia.

He told the Sheffield Star how Grange Crescent care home, where Mrs Asbery lives, first would not believe she was not in her room and a member of staff was hostile towards him when he rang them.

“I was quite upset about the lack of concern about how Mrs Asbery was,” he said.

Mrs Asbery’s daughter Jean Fletcher told the paper: “She could have been out all night. It just doesn’t bear thinking about.”

David Roulston, chief executive of SheffCare Limited, which runs the Grange Crescent home, said: “We are pleased to say that Mrs Asbery has returned to Grange Crescent and, happily, has not suffered any ill effects from the incident.

“As a result of the incident, a full investigation is being carried out.

“The member of staff in charge that evening has been suspended pending the result of the investigation. We have notified both the Commission for Social Care Inspection and Social Services.

“The gates leading from the garden of Grange Crescent have been double locked since last summer as a security precaution and, following the incident involving Mrs Asbery, an alarm system is now in place on the front door.”