Death at Kington Court community care centre shows “regime of neglect”


The following letter was sent to the Hereford Times newspaper by a Socialist Party member:

The death of Sandra Lancaster at Kington Court community care centre highlights what can only be described as a regime of neglect. This is not the fault of the good-natured, hard-working staff but the level of service contracted and supervised by Herefordshire NHS from a private operator.

My father went to Kington Court two and a half months ago to recuperate from a cracked leg-bone. He entered as an independent, mentally and physically able man but has left there as a weak, skeletal, mentally confused and dependent person. His 92-year old wife has been turned from cared-for to carer.

My father’s deterioration was not inevitable but has arisen from a regime under which his waking hours were spent sitting in isolation, with no mental or physical stimulation. The staff are given no time or remit to engage patients in conversation or to gather them for communal activity.

No physiotherapy was initially provided and when it finally came, it was woefully inadequate. My father’s muscles have wasted to a point where he is barely able to support himself even with a zimmer frame.

A sudden, obvious drop in his mental state was not noted as significant by nurses or doctors and it was only at the family’s insistance that blood tests were taken. This revealed an imbalance in mineral salts and he was immediately admitted to Hereford County Hospital. He is now massively incapacitated.

Herefordshire health administration must be held to account for allowing this pretence of a service to continue. It is their responsibility to provide a service with proper medical and nursing supervision, with staffing levels that create a genuinely therapeutic service for people needing intermediate care. We would not let any family member go near Kington Court again.

Helen Redwood