Standard of care at nursing home “was not acceptable”

The standard of care at a nursing home in Brithdir “was not acceptable”, a nurse has admitted.

An inquest into the deaths of Stanley Bradford, Evelyn Jones and Edith Evans, as well as Stanley James, June Hamer and William Hickman – who were all residents at Brithdir Nursing Home – is currently underway in Newport.

The deaths all happened between 2003 and 2005, with the care home closing in 2006.

Philip McCaffrey, who worked at Brithdir Nursing Home as a nurse-matron between June 2005 and January 2006, gave evidence at the inquest.

He described the standard of care at the home as “bordering on being negligent” and highlighted the “relentless” pressure he was under due to lack of staffing – often being the only nurse working at any given time.

Mr McCaffrey had originally retired in the 1990s but returned to work in 2002 when approached by Dr Prana Das – whose care home company Puretruce Healthcare Ltd operated a host of care homes across south east Wales, including Brithdir Nursing Home.

Stanley Bradford

Brithdir Nursing Home resident Stanley Bradford was 76-years-old when he died.

Mr Bradford – an ex-miner and a father-of-five – had been a resident at the care home for three months before his death on September 29, 2005.

In August 2005, he was admitted to Prince Charles Hospital in Merthyr Tydfil, where he was found to be dehydrated and malnourished.

His daughter, Gaynor Evans, told the inquest her father “resembled someone from a prisoner of war camp”.

Ms Evans said her father’s condition improved during his six-week stay at the hospital, but he died ten days after returning to the care home.

Edith Evans

Edith Evans, a resident at Brithdir Nursing Home, was 85-years-old when she died in September 2005.

The inquest was told that staff at Prince Charles Hospital in Merthyr Tydfil were shocked by Mrs Evans’ condition after she arrived at the hospital in the weeks before her death.

When she arrived at the hospital, she wasn’t accompanied by any care home staff, nor did she have her medical history or family contact details with her.

Mrs Evans, who had dementia, arrived at the hospital “very agitated” and “unclean”, hospital nurse Rachel Pulman told the inquest.

Ms Pulman described Mrs Evans’ “matted” hair and said she was “dirty from faeces” when she arrived at the hospital.

Mrs Evans’ death was caused by sepsis, which had developed at the site of a peg feed tube, which went into her stomach to allow her to consume food and drink. It was discovered that Mrs Evans had had the infection for seven weeks before she went into hospital.

Gail Morris, Mrs Evans’ niece, told the inquest her aunt’s death was “painful and distressing”.