Care Home Pilloried Over OAP’s Ordeal

A catalogue of complaints has been upheld against a Bucksburn nursing home after a family told of the “diabolical mistreatment” of an 82-year-old grandfather. Former prisoner of war Ronnie Beutelmann was “left abandoned” for four hours at Bucksburn Nursing Home with a seat restraint around his neck, his distraught granddaughter said yesterday.

Emma Wyness, 30, alleged that Mr Beutelmann had suffered verbal abuse since moving into the home, at Brimmond Home, Newhills.

Last night it emerged that the Care Commission, the independent regulator of Scottish care homes, investigated the centre in September and upheld four of six complaints the family had made about Mr Beutelmann’s treatment.

Ms Wyness, of Kirkhill View, Blackburn, said her grandfather lost 1st 7lb in just two weeks at the home.

She also said Mr Beutelmann was strapped to a chair with a lap belt just below his neck when she went to visit him at the £680-a-week home, run by the West Midlands-based Focus Care Centres.

The company was contacted last night but no one was available to comment.

Ms Wyness said her grandfather had seen his “dignity stripped away from him” since he moved into the home four-and-a-half months ago.

German-born Mr Beutelmann was sent on a World War II mission to Glasgow, where he was captured and kept as a prisoner of war. When released, he moved to Aberdeenshire and worked on a farm before training as a builder.

Ms Wyness, a mother-of-two, said she had lodged more than 30 complaints with the home in an attempt to get some answers.

The commission followed up some of the complaints two months ago and outlined a number of improvements the home needed to make.

Ms Wyness said: “I am absolutely furious. We have had meetings after meetings about this and the care centre just doesn’t seem to care.

“They seem to see it as just another complaint and nothing more – it’s a disgrace.

“My grandfather started suffering from dementia a while ago and we had to move him out of accommodation he had in Rosemount, and found this home in Bucksburn.

“Since then, we have done nothing but complain since he moved in.”

She said the most serious complaint involved the incident when he was “tied” to the chair and his breathing was restricted.

“They have lap belts fitted to them to stop them falling, but this one was around the top of his chest next to his neck and he was struggling to breathe,” Ms Wyness said.

“He was like that for four hours. I just can’t describe how bad I think that is.”

Ms Wyness also described how her grandfather, who has Parkinson’s disease and is blind in one eye, “became a shadow of himself” when he suddenly lost weight at the home.

She said: “He lost a stone-and-a-half in two weeks. He is quite a quiet man and is in quite a bad way. The communication is so bad that if he is hungry they won’t notice.

“After he lost so much weight he was admitted to hospital and, of course, we were really worried.”

Ms Wyness went on: “He has also received verbal abuse.

“One male member of staff told him, ‘Just sit there until you die’.

“We are now looking for another care home and hope there will be space somewhere else soon.”

The Care Commission report upheld a complaint that correct procedures had not been carried out when Mr Beutelmann was restrained in his chair and this had been “to the detriment of his health and wellbeing”.

It stated: “Five of the seven staff spoken with stated that they had not had specific training in relation to restraint.”

The report said “no training, or retraining, of staff took place following the incident”.

It added: “Senior staff did not demonstrate an understanding of the status of one of the complaints made.”

A further complaint that communication between staff was not sufficient to ensure staff were aware of Mr Beutelmann’s support needs was also upheld.

The report added: “Staff did not have the necessary training to competently carry out the tasks of their post.”

The commission did not uphold a complaint that Mr Beutelmann did not receive adequate personal support, such as help with his cleaning and clothing.

It said “observational evidence” did not show that “Mr Beutelmann’s personal care needs were not being met”.

A spokesman at charity Help the Aged said: “This is ludicrous. This just goes to reinforce the need for proper training in care homes.

“There is sometimes too much turnover with staff at care homes and the training is at times too poor.

“This type of thing is stripping old people of their dignity and it is a horrible end to a life if this is allowed to happen.”