A woman who has accused a care service of neglecting her late sister before she died, says the service has sent ‘threatening letters’ demanding payment.
Carol Kemp’s late sister Lorna Riley paid Complete Care Services in Rawtenstall to provide care for her.
She is now, however, refusing to pay the outstanding bill of £1,547 for care provided in June and July, 2021, as Carol claims Lorna “was left in pain and neglected".
Carol raised a safeguarding complaint with Lancashire County Council in June 2021 as Lorna hadn’t received her dosage of medication which should have been provided by the carer and also claimed that the carers were not feeding Lorna or changing bed sheets – which CCS have disputed.
Carol, who visited Lorna at least three times a week, said: “Lorna had been in hospital but when she was discharged, she needed help. I live a distance away and I’m 75 so I couldn’t care for herself.
"The CCS company was recommended to us so we discussed her needs which was helping her eat her meals, and continence care and then helping her in the evening and assisted to bed.
“I assumed everything was okay but when I visited her in January, I noticed she was left all day without continence care and reeked of urine.
“The carers documented that she had a pressure sore, but they hadn’t done anything about it which you should act on straight away.
“The cleaners also told me that the carers weren’t feeding her and she was only eating biscuits for her evening meal.
"It’s terrible, they weren’t caring for her at all and her bed lined was often stained, it’s sad.”
Responding to the claim that Lorna wasn't fed properly, a spokesperson for CCS said that without specific dates it is difficult to address the claims around meals.
On one of the care evaluation sheets from June 2021, the carer wrote that Lorna "declined dinner" as she had "eaten bits all morning". However, Carol had highlighted this section, writing 'NOT CORRECT' on the sheet.
The spokesperson continued: "...You can cleary see the carers have documented that food and drink has been offered. I have myself looked back through the rest of Junes sheets where it can be seen time and time again we made food and drink for Lorna.
In the same month, Lorna was left without relief pain as the pharmacy had not processed her co-codamol prescription yet.
The carers called 111 when they thought Lorna may have taken an overdose as "six co-codamols had gone missing." Carol dismissed this as “ridiculous” because "there was no way" her sister could have reached the shelf on her own.
In a letter addressed to Carol, CCS stated: “We had to consider all possibilities, which, included the possibility Lorna had taken the medication.
“We have a duty of care to seek medical help which is why we contacted 111. Lorna was not being ‘blamed’ for missing medication, we were simply covering all bases.”
CCS has a Care Quality Commission rating of 'good' overall. However in June 2021, a report published by the Local Government Ombudsman revealed that Lancashire County Council admitted a woman was left 'without the support necessary for her to live comfortably and maintain her wellbeing'.
Responding to Carol's individual safeguarding complaints, LCC stated that the allegation of Neglect and Acts of Omission around medication are substantiated but the allegation around personal care are Unsubstantiated.
This means the the allegations of Neglect and Acts of Omission are Partially Unsubstantiated.
Carol added that after her sister passed later in 2021, CCS have used a solictor to try to 'demand money out of her' which has caused ‘unnecessary stress’ for Carol.
CCS have offered a reduction of £147.82 in the overall bill because of the provision of medication to Lorna was not ‘entirely satisfactory’ however Carol states that she shouldn’t have to pay for the carers’ ‘lack of care’ for her late sister.
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