Flynn review finds care home owner should have been prosecuted

A highly critical review into alleged abuse at care homes in South Wales says the owner of two of the homes should have been prosecuted.

The review of Operation Jasmine, commissioned by the Welsh Government and carried out by respected care expert Dr Margaret Flynn, focussed on 63 deaths identified as a cause for concern in care homes and nursing homes.

Dr Flynn recommended that inquests should be held into four of the deaths and  prosecutions should have been pursued.

In one case the review found Dr Prana Das (pictured), whose trial was ended when he suffered a severe head injury following a burglary, “should have and could have been prosecuted”.

The review was critical of the decision not to pursue the case because Dr Das remained as company director and company secretary for 564 days after the attack.

Dr Flynn said: “I would like the CPS to review this again,” adding that the “absence of a judgement or legal resolution compounds the families’ grief and sense of grievance”.

Responding the CPS said there were no plans to review any cases from Operation Jasmine, saying: “We explained to the review that there was insufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of a conviction.”

However, Dr Flynn said: “It’s a matter of concern that the CPS reason that the case would fail the basis on lack of evidence of causation. There is a section within the report, written by lawyers, that challenges that very fact.”

First Minister Carwyn Jones, who ordered the report in 2013, said it was a “compelling and upsetting read” that “does not flinch from laying out the events that occurred”.

“I believe that the report is a thorough and detailed account of these events and I am grateful to Dr Flynn for her professional work over the past eighteen months. I am also grateful to those individuals and organisations that have contributed to Dr Flynn’s work during that time.

“The report, although recognising progress over the past decade, sets out a number of actions for consideration by a variety of organisations including the Welsh Government.

Mr Jones said he would set out what further action would be taken in response to the recommendations and he expected a response from any organisation highlighted in the report.

Older People’s Commissioner, Sarah Rochira, said: “Dr Flynn’s report is clear, as was my own Care Home Review published last November, that there must be a greater investment in the care home sector and the importance of this sector, not only for older people but for Wales as a whole, must be recognised.

“The report clearly demonstrates the ways in which the criminal justice system has let down the older people and families involved in this investigation.  The legal system must be changed to make it easier to prosecute those who abuse or neglect older people, or those who allow abuse or neglect to occur.”

Main recommendations include:

• The residential and nursing care home sector becomes a sector of primary national strategic importance for Wales, is shaped by policies to improve the quality of care, and that care home managers are registered and are members of a professional body which has disciplinary powers
• That the Welsh government, in association with Public Health Wales, ensures that the significance of deep pressure ulcers is elevated to that of a notifiable condition, meaning authorities have to monitor the condition
• That “protective outcomes” ensure the wellbeing of individuals when an allegation is made or evidence of harm has occurred
• Inquests should be held into the deaths of Stanley Bradford, Megan Downs, Edith Evans, Ronald Jones and others known to the coroner
• Gwent Police provides the families of older people in the six homes included in Operation Jasmine with the information prepared by members of the expert panel
• The General Medical Council (GMC) and the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) consider the need for continuing reform to ensure that fitness to practise proceedings are conducted as quickly as practicable
• The Director of Public Prosecutions refers the Operation Jasmine investigation to the Special Crime and Counter Terrorism Division of the Crown Prosecution Service
• Operation Jasmine was launched by Gwent Police in 2005 after the death of an 84-year-old woman. It investigated 63 deaths over a period of seven years at a cost of £11.6 million.

Download the Review here: http://gov.wales/topics/health/publications/socialcare/reports/accountability/?lang=en