It’s more than two years since my mother, Sheila Hartman, was attacked by another resident as she lay in bed at her care home, Ridgeway Lodge in Dunstable, Bedfordshire. Sheila – mum – was beaten around her head and body with the curved end of a wooden walking stick by 92 year old Eunice Clarke who was also living with dementia.
Although sometimes the wheels of justice turn frustratingly slowly I have no complaints about the thoroughness of the inquest. It examined more than a thousand pages of care records which showed care home staff knew about Eunice’s verbal and physical aggression but that managers failed to act on the information and put a proper care plan in place for her. A plan that would recognise and manage the risk she posed to herself, staff and other residents, Sheila included.
To say it was an accident waiting to happen would be wrong. It was no accident. It was the consequence of appallingly poor care and I’m now working with the care home operator, HC One, to make sure it never happens again. That would be a positive legacy for both women -victims in different ways of the horrible disease that is dementia.
If you’re interested in hearing more about the case you can listen here to an interview I gave to BBC Three Counties radio after the jury returned their verdict.
No time to spare? Want a quick read? You can see the BBC News online version of the story here.