Monthly Archives: June 2012
Elderly ‘left hungry as care home tried to cut down on shopping bill
Frail elderly people were routinely left without food after their care home ran out of supplies because of an apparent attempt to “cut down the shopping bill”, an inspection has found.
By John Bingham, Social Affairs Editor
7:00AM BST 07 Jun 2012
Staff at Lyndhurst Lodge in Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leics, told inspectors they had resorted to buying snacks for residents out of their own pockets because of shortages, the health watchdog the Care Quality Commission said.
The home was issued with a formal warning after a highly critical inspection report also found that it was so short-staffed that at times there were not even enough on hand to help frail people to the lavatory.
Report from the Hardest Hit North-East Conference
Cuts are costing us our independence, disabled people in Newcastle tell Government
Over 200 disabled people, carers and disability campaigners gathered at Newcastle Civic Centre on Friday 1 June to discuss the impact of government cuts on disabled and older people. The conference comes after a march and rally last October which was the largest of a series across the country with over a 1000 people taking part.
‘PROVE you’re disabled’: What council told wheelchair-bound spina bifida sufferer
- Nicola Parnell said staff told her to go home and come back with evidence she really had spina bifida
A woman in a wheelchair who asked for a key to the disabled toilets was horrified when council staff told her to provide proof that she really had spina bifida.
Nicola Parnell, 32, visited East Staffordshire Borough Council’s customer services office to buy access to the facilities at her local shopping centre in Burton-on-Trent.
But she said jobsworth staff demanded she produce evidence of her chronic illness – despite the fact she was in a wheelchair and her body is the size of a 10-year-old’s.
Shocked: Nicola Parnell was left distraught when council staff told her to go home and get evidence she really had spina bifida
‘I asked the receptionist if I could buy a key and she said she couldn’t give me one unless I could prove that I was disabled,’ said a shocked Ms Parnell.
‘She said I’d need to go home and come back with some identification; either my blue badge or a letter showing my disability living allowance.
‘What more proof did she need than me being in front of her in a wheelchair? I clearly look disabled.
‘My body is about the same size as a 10-year-old’s – surely that is enough proof.’
Ms Parnell claims she asked a receptionist to look for her details on the council’s computer system as she had been to the office a month earlier to update her blue badge.
