Care home abuse suffered at hands of fellow resident went unchecked for nine months

By Joe Coughlan, Local Democracy Reporter

A Bexley care home resident was reportedly abused by another resident for nine months, a recent Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman report has found.

Bexley council has been criticised by the watchdog for failing to appropriately act after receiving eight reports of a care home resident being abused over that lengthy period.

The report claimed the resident was first pushed and hit on the back by another resident in May 2022, after which the care home checked for bruising and reported the abuse to the council.

The woman was reportedly pushed over by the same resident later that day and banged her head on a wall, leading to an ambulance being called and another report being filed.

These initial reports to the council were said to have been incorrectly made through a quality assurance form, which was not to be used for safeguarding incidents.

The resident, known as Mrs B in the report, was reportedly pushed by the same resident again two days later and a safeguarding referral was made to Bexley council using the correct process.

Another referral was made to the council two days after this when the assailant, known as Resident X in the report, appeared to have bruised Mrs B under her eye. However, the council did not refer any of these incident reports for screening but agreed to move them to another care home.

A safety plan for Mrs B was completed by the care home in June, followed by her risk assessment and a review of this assessment in August. The ombudsman said neither of these documents cited the woman was at risk from Resident X.

The report said: “At the end of September, Mrs B was pushed over by Resident X. The care home reported this to the council but its quality assurance team decided no further action needed to be taken.”

Bexley council began searching for a new care home for Resident X in September but had little success. Resident X hit Mrs B on her cheek the next month, leaving a red mark. This incident was followed by Mrs B being punched in the head by Resident X in November.

Mrs B then sustained a black eye after being assaulted by Resident X in January 2023 and the care home sought medical attention while also reporting the assault to the authority.

The local authority did not refer the assault for screening and its quality assurance team felt the care home staff had acted appropriately. But Resident X slapped Mrs B the next month and another safeguarding incident was reported.

Bexley council informed the police of the incident and Resident X was finally moved out of the care home. The authority had reportedly contacted 42 different providers at this point, with none agreeing to offer Resident X a place.

The report claimed that the council  failed to take formal action to protect Mrs B over the course of her abuse, which significantly contributed to the harm she suffered.

They criticised the authority’s quality assurance team for not confirming that Mrs B’s risk assessment had been amended to include the threat from Resident X. The authority was also criticised for failing to move Resident X for six months.

Mrs B reportedly passed away in July 2023. The ombudsman instructed the authority to pay her sister £2,000 on behalf of her estate to recognise it could have done more to protect Mrs B from the physical abuse.

A Bexley council spokesman said: “We fully accept the findings of the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman and have apologised to Mrs B’s family.

“Learning and improvement actions have already been put in place, including training and additional reporting and recording procedures, to ensure this situation does not happen again.”

Pictured top: Bexley Civic Centre – home to Bexley council (Picture: Google Street View)