Report Into Dead Bermondsey OAP Reveals Social Care Failings

INADEQUATE training and poor communication were factors leading to a pensioner’s death more than a week after concerns were raised about her well-being.

The full circumstances of Engelina Lambert’s death in Bermondsey last summer have been published this week in an independent inquiry commissioned by Southwark council.

It confirmed reports in this newspaper that a neighbour first raised the alarm with the council on July 23, two days after he had called emergency services to her West Lane home, and again on the following day.

It further confirmed that it was not until July 28 that officers decided a social worker should visit her on August 4.

But, before this visit was due to take place, the 84-year-old widow had been found dead by police who had broken down her door on July 30 after being called by Mrs Lambert’s GP.

Responding to the report’s findings, council chief executive Annie Shepperd said if ambulance staff had provided more information in its report of the July 21 visit, her officers would have acted quicker.

She told the South London Press: “We did not know about her condition, so social services thought it was not urgent.”

The report was launched following criticism of the Lib Dem/Tory council’s handling of the case by Southwark coroner Gail Elliman who became involved when one of Mrs Lambert’s neighbours, Mete Alpsakarya, gave evidence at the inquest.

The independent report by former Lewisham social services boss Professor Derek Gardiner was drawn up in response to the coroner’s demand that “action should be taken to prevent the recurrence of fatalities”.

It reveals how poorly trained temporary council staff failed to properly assess the risk Mrs Lambert was facing.

It also said London Ambulance Service (LAS) failed to give a complete account of the pensioner’s health to the council – a claim denied by LAS when contacted by the South London Press.

The report further revealed it was unqualified or temporary council staff who handled communications about Mrs Lambert from the LAS, her neighbours and GP.

Prof Gardiner said: “It seems risky to rely on the skills and abilities of temporary unqualified staff to collect the necessary information.”

It also outlined how poor training led to council officers failing to recognise the urgent need for care that should have been identified.

He said: “A visit from the duty team or another professional in the office could have been undertaken when the second call from the neighbour was received on July 24.”

In his recommendations – which Miss Shepperd said she had actioned – Prof Gardiner said training should be given in how to:

* Recognise when someone is in urgent need of care
* Respond to “multiple expressions of concern” and
* Deal with information from outside agencies.

He also said only one qualified member of staff should make decisions on whether social care was necessary.

Southwark Labour’s spokeswoman for health and adult care, Councillor Susan Elan Jones, said: “In this case Prof Gardiner indicates that they seem not to have been getting the fundamentals of social care record-keeping right.

“It’s not the fault of the temps themselves; it’s the fault of the council’s attitude towards employing under-trained agency workers and it needs to change.”