A large care village run by Shrien Dewani and his wealthy family is under threat of closure following a damning report by watchdogs.
Inspectors made SEVEN visits to the Gibraltar Care Village – run by Shrien, his brother Preyen and their father Prakash – in the last two years over concerns about staffing levels.
They saw staff ignoring a resident pleading “help me, help me” and another was left without water for five hours despite temperatures reaching 30 degrees.
Police were called in to investigate the alleged harming of a resident as they were moved and the council has banned the 95-bed home from taking in new residents.
The critical 26-page dossier adds that a resident was given “continence care” in a communal area and another went without medication for two days after it “ran out”.
Shockingly, the Care and Social Services Inspectorate Wales also recorded just 1% of interactions between staff and residents as ‘positive’.
A source at the home in Monmouth, Wales, said the report came after the wealthy Dewani family “ignored” it and concentrated their efforts on Shrien’s legal battle.
The family owns PSP Healthcare Ltd, which manages two care villages and seven homes across south west England.
Shrien’s father Prakash is thought to be majority owner, but Shrien ran finances and operations with older brother Preyen, 36, the managing director.
The PSP website says: “At the heart of PSP Healthcare is a commitment to delivering the best general, dementia/EMI and nursing care for older people, providing a ‘home from home’ with our team of dedicated qualified nurses and care staff.”
According to the CSSIW website, inspectors first visited Gibraltar Care Village in October 2012.
They went on to visit the facility – which provides specialist dementia care among other elderly services – SIX times with the most recent in November.
The published report from the September inspection said: “People were exhibiting distressed behaviour. This presented as people calling out, shouting, and banging objects.”
It added: “On floor two we found only 1% of interactions were positive. As carers came in they walked past people without acknowledging them, there were no positive non-verbal communications or warmth in their interactions.”
Speaking of a resident’s opiate-based medication, which had “run out” for two days, the report added: “There was no evidence that immediate action was taken.”
Food was described as “pale brown liquid” and incident records revealed a “high number of falls”.
The report author said: “We saw staff not responding to a resident who was calling out ‘help me help me’. This was not constant, but when the person did call out, no-one responded to them.
“They were left distressed sitting in a chair that was not supporting their posture in any therapeutic way.
“A safeguarding referral was raised in September 2014 alleging that a person living at the home was assisted with continence care in the lounge/dining room area. The investigation is currently on going.
“We saw two carers assisting a person with walking. The person’s clothes were so loose that their continence pad was visible.
“One all floors we saw some people who were not wearing shoes or socks or slippers. One person complained that they had cold feet. Staff did not respond to this comment.”
The Care and Social Services Inspectorate Wales last month revisited the home to see if “non compliance” is still happening, and that report is pending publication.
A CSSIW spokeswoman said: “That report is currently out to the provider for comment.
“At the moment there isn’t any notice of closure on the home.”
She said if inspectors discovered problems were still occurring at a home after a surprise inspection, actions would be taken to help bring standards up.
She added: “Ultimately if they still don’t improve we do have the power to close homes.”
A spokesperson for Gwent Police said: “Gwent Police was contacted on 15/09/2014 in regards to complaints about care practices being operated at Gibraltar Care Village in Monmouth.
“Officers are currently investigating the complaints and are working with Monmouthshire Social Services Department.
“As the investigation is ongoing it would be inappropriate to comment further at this time.”
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