Police have arrested a woman on suspicion of assaulting a resident at the care home where ill-treatment of residents was exposed by the BBC’s Panorama programme last week.
The arrest by Essex Police came as the provider that runs The Old Deanery Care Home in Braintree sacked six more members of staff, in addition to one who had already been dismissed.
Anglia Retirement Homes said the first worker dismissed was the one screened slapping a resident at the home; it said an independent investigation into the incident commissioned by the provider had obtained an eye witness statement. The provider also said another member of staff’s case was being urgently reviewed.
The woman arrested, who is in her 40s and lives in Braintree, has been bailed to return for questioning later this month pending further enquiries.
The Panorama programme also showed a person with dementia being mocked by staff, another resident whose cries for assistance in using the toilet were ignored and a man left lying in his own excrement.
Anglia said it apologised unreservedly for the failings, which it attributed to a small number of staff, and said it was reviewing procedures, services and staffing levels at the home.
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I am not sure why they are just being sacked. We need prosecutions with heavy sentences. How many times do we have to watch while our elderly vulnerable population are being insulted and abused before we, everyone, do something about it?
The abuse of residents witnessed in this programme was horrific and moved me to tears. I hope this expose is a lesson to everyone working in the care sector and that better standards of care are enforced as a result of it. How anyone could slap a defenceless, elderly lady is beyond me. Would the ‘care worker’ have done this to her own mother?? Truly shocking. I hope the woman never works with people again. She and the others who mistreat the vulnerable and elderly are absolutely despicable and inhuman.