September is World Alzheimer’s Month, a time dedicated to raising awareness and support for people living with dementia, particularly in the face of neglectful care in care homes.
Despite being the UK’s biggest killer and a major challenge for health and social care, dementia is often ignored. This year, the Alzheimer’s Society is directly addressing the “forgotten dementia crisis” in the UK.
They are doing this by sharing millions of personal stories from individuals affected by the condition, creating a strong argument for immediate action to combat the neglect of dementia patients in care homes.
Navigating the Transition to Residential Care
Alzheimer’s disease is a brain disorder caused by the buildup of unusual proteins, which impacts memory, thinking abilities, and the capacity to perform daily activities. It is a major cause of disability among older adults and incredibly expensive, due to the cost of care homes.
In the UK, over 30% of individuals with dementia live in long-term care facilities, representing 4% of everyone aged 65 and over.
The Care Quality Commission has observed a substantial rise in care homes providing dementia services, underscoring a nationwide concern regarding the safety of this care.
Understanding Types of Care Home Malpractice
Dementia neglect in care homes is a serious issue where residents receive substandard care, leading to physical and emotional harm. This often stems from various forms of medical negligence, including:
Physical Neglect: This is the failure to provide essential personal care like bathing, toileting, dressing, and feeding. Such neglect can cause severe injuries such as pressure sores (bedsores) due to poor skin care and prolonged immobility. These injuries can worsen infections, lead to sepsis, and, tragically, even death. Additionally, falls, often unwitnessed, can occur due to improper management, incorrect manual handling, or insufficient supervision, leading to further injuries.
Emotional Neglect: This type of neglect involves social isolation, a lack of meaningful interaction, and a failure to address a resident’s emotional needs. The consequences can be significant distress and the development or worsening of mental health problems for the resident.
Medical Neglect: For dementia patients, prescription errors are a serious and potentially life-threatening form of medical neglect. This can happen when staff administer incorrect medication, fail to provide necessary medical attention, or inadequately monitor vital health conditions.
Environmental Neglect: This refers to residents living in unsafe or unsanitary conditions, such as dirty rooms, poor lighting, or inadequate temperature control. For dementia patients, environmental neglect can lead to malnutrition, dehydration, poor hygiene, and limited access to essential healthcare.
Prioritizing Protection: Safeguarding for Those Living with Dementia
Safeguarding is essential for many vulnerable adults, including individuals with dementia, learning disabilities, sensory or physical disabilities, and even their carers. People with dementia are especially vulnerable to abuse or neglect due to their cognitive symptoms.
These symptoms often include:
- Memory loss
- Problems with concentrating, planning, and organising, which impacts their ability to make decisions and solve problems.
- Communication difficulties
- Difficulties with orientation (knowing where they are or what time it is)
All of these factors make it much harder for individuals with dementia to protect themselves.
It is also important to consider carers, who may be struggling with being overburdened, isolated, lonely, or under immense stress.
They too can be at risk of neglect and abuse, which significantly affects their ability to provide care and look after themselves. Raising a Safeguarding concern can make a real difference for their well-being.
This can lead to a carer’s assessment, ensuring they receive appropriate support for their caring role and a tailored review of their individual needs.
What Exactly is Safeguarding?
In the UK and Ireland, safeguarding is all about protecting people’s health, well-being, and human rights, especially for children, young people, and vulnerable adults.
The Care Act 2014 specifically defines safeguarding as actively preventing abuse and neglect while promoting an adult’s well-being. It is a team effort, bringing together individuals and organisations to stop risks and improve overall well-being. A key part of this is making sure that people’s views, wishes, feelings, and beliefs are considered in every decision.
When we talk about safeguarding, the Care Act highlights six core principles:
- Empowerment: People should be supported and encouraged to make their own informed decisions.
- Prevention: It is always better to act before harm occurs.
- Proportionality: The response to a risk should be the least intrusive possible.
- Protection: Providing support and representation for those who need it most.
- Partnership: Finding local solutions by having services work closely with their communities. Everyone in the community plays a role in preventing, detecting, and reporting neglect and abuse.
- Accountability: Ensuring transparency and responsibility in all safeguarding practices.
It is worth noting that Wales and Northern Ireland have their own specific laws and best practices for safeguarding:
- Wales: The Social Services and Well-Being (Wales) Act 2014.
- Northern Ireland: The Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups (Northern Ireland) Order 2007.
Frequently asked questions:
Who can bring about a claim?
The victim of the negligence can bring a claim in their own right. However, it is often sadly the case that the victim is either unable to bring about a claim or has passed away.
In such circumstances, a claim can be brought on their behalf either by an appropriate person or a friend if the victim is still with us. If the victim has passed away, it can be brought by the executor of the estate or a surviving dependent of the victim.
Our specialist team will be able to discuss whether you have the right to bring about a claim, so if you or a loved one has been affected, do not hesitate to contact us.
How much is my claim worth?
It is often difficult to value clinical negligence claims at their outset, given the complexities involved. However, we will pursue two forms of compensation for you:
- General damages: An award of money for the pain and suffering you have endured as a result of the negligence.
- Special damages: An award for all of your out-of-pocket expenses, such as travel, medication costs, loss of earnings, and treatment costs, both past and future. This list is not exhaustive and is very case-specific.
How is my case funded?
The majority of Clinical Negligence cases are funded by a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA), more commonly known as a ‘no-win, no-fee’ agreement. This means that there will be nothing to pay up front and nothing to pay if the claim is lost.
If you are successful in your claim, a deduction will be taken from your damages to cover the success fee and the shortfall in legal fees.
It may also be the case that an After the Event (ATE) insurance policy will be obtained to cover the costs of expensive medical reports and investigations.
If an ATE insurance policy has to be obtained, the cost of the same will be discussed with you at the appropriate point.
The cost of the ATE insurance policy is again taken from your damages and is only payable if you are successful with your claim.
Further reading:
Dementia Care Home Negligence on the Rise.
Oakwood Solicitors Elderly Care and Care Home Abuse.
Oakwood Scotland Solicitors Clinical Negligence.
WHAT TO DO NEXT
If you or a loved one has suffered as a result of dementia medical abuse at a care home, get in touch today for a no-obligation consultation.
Choose one of the methods on the right-hand side of this page or call us on 0141 406 3324 to find out how we can help you with your enquiry.
