Former care home resident tells court of unspeakable ‘quiet room’
The investigation into abuse of vulnerable adults at two care homes in Devon was launched after one of the residents contacted the authorities.
The resident – known only as AC – reported managers of the Veilstone and Gatooma homes to the Care Quality Commission in July 2011.
He had lived at Veilstone (pictured) from 2007 until 2010 when he was “stitched up” by the home’s managers and the police were called.
The following year he reported his concerns and the two homes were later shut.
During one of the trials at Bristol Crown Court, AC described the “quiet room” at Veilstone as “disgusting and cold” and said being shut inside was “too unspeakable”.
“The quiet room was used a lot with me,” he told the court.
“Anything I had done, they used to put me in there. If I did something that they didn’t like I was straight back in.
“It’s not on to do that. A normal person would not put a person in a room like that because they have problems.
“It was a room that was disgusting and cold. They had an airbed in there which had a puncture and at night the door was locked.
“It had a CCTV camera, a smoke detector and a punctured mattress – it was an airbed but it had a puncture in.
“It was one of the things that was too unspeakable – I couldn’t stay in there.
“It had lino on the floor. It was cold, damp. If you wanted to go to the toilet, there was no toilet in there. There was a window but it was locked. No curtains.
“They made the room as bad as possible and as uncomfortable as possible.
“There was no handle on the inside and there was a handle on the outside. If you wanted to go to the toilet you had to knock on the door.
“I was kept in there overnight. I wasn’t able to get out. I tried to get out but they grabbed me and got me back in.”
Asked how being kept in the quiet room made him feel, AC replied: “It made me feel terrible in a way. That’s one of the reasons I rang the CQC.”
Copyright (c) Press Association Ltd. 2017, All Rights Reserved. Picture (c) PA Wire.
