Dad angry over way Scopwick care home death handled

A GRIEVING dad is incensed over how his son’s death in a Lincolnshire care home has been handled by the authorities.

And Paul Turner, 61, says he still has not received a proper apology from Heath Farm in Scopwick where his autistic son Andrew died at the age of 29 in September 2006.

Andrew had lived at the home for 10 years before being found dead in his bed.

It emerged shortly afterwards that care staff had failed to administer four doses of his twice daily prescription of 750mg of Keppra to keep his epilepsy at bay.

In January 2008 a jury at Mr Turner’s week-long inquest returned a verdict that the care home’s failure to administer his prescription resulted in the return of seizures which contributed to his death.

But only now, more than three year’s on from Mr Turner’s death, has a serious case review commissioned by Lincolnshire County Council – which pays for residents to stay at Heath Farm – and carried out by Lincolnshire Safeguarding Adults Board, been published.

It makes a series of 20 recommendations on the management of care homes and how future serious incidents should be investigated.

Mr Turner, who lives in Nottingham, said: “We are disappointed that Lincolnshire Social Services waited until after the inquest, a year and four months after Andrew’s death, to institute a formal review into Andrew’s death. The evidence of the catastrophic breakdown of medication procedures was known within a couple of weeks.

Mr Turner said that he was hurt that after his son’s inquest, he and his wife Elizabeth received a letter of “regret” from the management of Heath Farm that failed to contain the word ‘sorry’.

“We never did receive an apology from Heath Farm, just a bland expression of regret clearly dictated by a legal professional,” he said.