Manager on neglect charge ‘had improved care home’s rating’

The privately-run Elm View home in Huddersfield Road, Halifax, had been rated as “poor” by inspectors in September 2008. But after Faheza Simpson was taken on as manager it achieved a “good” rating at another unannounced inspection in March 2009, Bradford Crown Court heard yesterday.

Former care assistant Jaime Nairne told the jury that the home had been at risk of closure before Simpson was appointed in October 2008.

Simpson, 49, of Huddersfield Road, Holmfirth, and home owner Philip Bentley, 65, of Woodthorpe Drive, Wakefield, have both denied charges of neglect relating to the care of three women and one man at the home, which was visited by police and NHS staff in October 2011.

But Miss Nairne also told the court that up to 20 or 30 members of staff had left the home during Simpson’s time in charge and the shortage of staff meant residents were not being taken to the toilet or “turned” regularly to help avoid pressure sores.

Miss Nairne said she could tell that some residents hadn’t been taken to the toilet during the day because they were “wet through”. She also said staff shortages at night meant that some residents could not be put to bed until the early hours.

When the home was visited by police in 2011 they found two female residents suffering from pressure sores and Miss Nairne told the court that one of the women, 81-year-old Alzheimer’s sufferer Mildred Threadgold, was not seen by a tissue viability nurse for about four months after first developing her sore.

Miss Nairne said she had never raised her concerns with Simpson and she did not think Bentley and his wife would have done anything either. The trial continues.