Family Demand Answers To 39 Year Old Care Home Death

Care Commission chiefs are being asked to investigate the unexplained death of a 39-year-old woman at a north-east nursing home. Fraserburgh mother Helen Robertson was found dead in a room at the Broch’s Glencairn Lodge seven years ago.

Her family have never been told how she died and, most crucially of all, if more could have been done to save her.

Now, prompted by last week’s Press and Journal report about a catalogue of complaints which were upheld against the same care home, Helen’s mother, Inger Watt, and daughter, Stephanie, have launched a fresh bid to uncover the truth.

The family had been hoping to secure a full inquiry into her death and had been in talks for more than a year with the fiscal in Peterhead.

They were eventually told a formal fatal accident inquiry would not be possible.

Now they are turning to the Care Commission, the independent regulator of Scotland’s care homes, to help them find some answers.

It is hoped that investigators will be able to use evidence and statements gathered for the sheriff court inquiry. They may even want to speak to care-home staff, some of whom have since left.

Mrs Watt said last night: “I can’t describe how it feels to go for so long without knowing how your own daughter died.

“Her death certificate simply reads ‘probable epileptic seizure’, but that doesn’t tell me anything. I don’t even know the time of day she died.

“We believe she was in her room with the door closed when she had a seizure or hypo (hypoglycaemic) and there was no one around to help her.

“If this is true, we want to know why the room was closed and if she was given her nightly dose of glucose, which she was meant to get at 9pm each night, to prevent any seizures.”

Mrs Robertson had been receiving weekend respite care at the Smiddyhill Road care home for about three years.

After the birth of her only child Stephanie, she developed severe epilepsy, diabetes and had bouts of dementia. Her asthma, which she had since childhood, also worsened.

About a year before her mother died, Stephanie, then 16, was taken on as a trainee carer at the centre.

“I remember my mum’s bedroom door was always kept closed when she was staying there,” she said.

“I couldn’t understand that because it was obvious she really needed one to one care most of the time.

“If she had an epileptic fit behind closed doors, no one would have known until they went in to check on her.”

The family are also puzzled by the fact she was found dead in an Adidas tracksuit and trainers, long after she would usually have been in bed.

Mrs Watt, 63, of Scalloway Park, Fraserburgh, hopes the Care Commission will launch an inquiry after reading about grandmother Annie Wood, who had to have her gangrene-infected foot amputated weeks after staff at the care home insisted she was just “making a fuss”.

Mrs Watt said: “I need to know if more could have been done to stop my daughter’s death.”

Last night, a spokesman for the Care Commission said: “Normally we would not investigate complaints more than 12 months after the cause for the complaint has arisen.

“There are grounds for this policy to be waived and we would certainly consider any approach by this family.”