Carers faked a log claiming they had continued to check an elderly woman in her home for a week after she had been admitted to hospital, it was alleged yesterday.

Wilhelmina Dart, 83, was rushed to hospital by her daughter after she found her on the floor having suffered a stroke.

Not realising Dart was in hospital, carers, who were paid to spend half an hour with her on weekdays, let themselves into her home and signed the log saying they had seen and checked her, it was claimed. Had they gone upstairs they would have realised she was not there.

Dart’s daughter, Patricia Handford, said yesterday that had she not visited her mother, Dart could have lain on the floor for more than a week. “It is disgraceful,” she said. “I wonder how often this has happened all around the country?”

Two carers have been suspended while the Devon agency that employs them, 1st React Healthcare, investigates. Devon county council and the Commission for Social Care Inspection have been informed.

The hardest part of caring for loved ones with dementia is not the everyday practical challenge, but rather the emotional impact of losing the patients’ support and companionship as the disease robs them of their faculties, according to new research.

Millions of parents accept that their children will be denied an inheritance because they are likely to be forced to spend their savings on care in old age.

A Looming elderly care crisis has forced a major shake-up of council-run services.