‘We were lied to’: Families describe chaos and heartbreak over Hazel Garth care home closure

Residents of Hazel Garth Care Home, in Wakefield, were given 24 hours’ notice of the decision to close the facility in May this year.

A review of the incident found that the rapid closure of the home was “not justified”, that families were “let down” and “common courtesy was not afforded to the residents.” One of the six residents who was moved out of the home died 16 days later.

Report author Janet Waggott has recommended the Labour-run council pay compensation to those affected by the decision.

Janine Hercock said she received a phone call from a social worker who said her mum Kath Butters, 75, would be moved from Hazel Garth the following day.

Mrs Hercock, who lives in Surrey, then made a five hour journey to West Yorkshire. Mrs Hercock refused to allow her mum to be taken to another home and threatened to contact police if she was taken without her consent. She also lodged an urgent adult safeguarding referral with the council.

She said: “It was shocking to get that phone call and my first reaction was one of disbelief. When I got to the home no one could give us a straight answer as to why it was closing. People tried to pacify us but there were no answers to our questions. The people who should have been answering the questions were somehow unavailable. They left others to take the flak.

“My mum understood what was happening but can’t express how she feels anymore. She grabbed my arm and just said ‘home’. I then had to try to explain to her why she was effectively being kicked out.”

The council provided transport for Mrs Butters to be moved to Surrey, where she has now settled into a care facility near her daughter’s home. Mrs Hercock said she would not allow her mum to return to Hazel Garth despite the council’s promises to reopen the home.

She said: “I hope that the staff at Hazel Garth receive the recognition that they deserve. Social media has many powers, both good and bad, and there was naturally a lot of criticism of the care home. It is shocking that there is so little provision for people like my mum.

“It’s a vital, absolute life-saving service for families. It is an amazing place. I really hope that the council doesn’t leave itself in a situation where one person has tremendous power and control and people can’t challenge or question things. I hope that they do resolve that leadership model and I hope the council do what they have promised they would do to make things right.”

Factory worker Angela Garfoot was in the middle of a 12-hour shift when she received a text message asking her to contact the home urgently about her 82-year-old mum Carol Lorimer.

She said: “She had been in Hazel Garth for about two or three years and we were 100 percent happy with the service. The staff were amazing. All the residents were treated like family. But on that day it was just chaotic. I was very upset. I had no chance to check out the home they were moving her to.

“Lucky she has settled and taken to it quite well. But I feel that she was treated like a piece of old furniture. Those residents were literally discarded. They have obviously known before that day that they wanted to close and they have come up with a cock and bull story.

“I’m 100 percent positive that they knew what was happening well before they gave us 24 hours’ notice. Let’s hope it doesn’t happen to one of their parents. I just hope this is a lesson learned and it doesn’t happen to anyone else.”

At the time of the closure, the council said the decision had been made to provide the “best level of safe care for residents”. A statement issued by the authority in May said it the temporary closure was “due to a combination of the care needs of residents, the physical condition of the building, and staff availability.”

Emma Hutt said she was initially told her mum, Margaret Williams, had been moved to another care home in the district because asbestos had been found in the building.

She said: “I never questioned it and just believed what they said. They said it was a temporary closure and that she would be able to go back when everything was ok. Stupidly, I believed them. I actually wished them good luck with it but they had just lied to us.

“It has changed the way I feel about what people say to me. I’m 53 years old and I would like to think that I’m not gullible but this feels like proof that I am. I think I’ve been made to look like a right idiot. I can’t tell you how much I have cried over it.

“I feel sorry for the staff at Hazel Garth. A lot of them have been to see my mum where she is now because they genuinely did care about her. I’m sure about that.”

Ms Hutt said she also had concerns over her mum’s care due to being moved at short notice.

She explained: “I don’t think she has settled in very well at. But I can’t ask her because she can’t speak. I think my mum just basically turned up at the new place with a bag of clothes and a bit of paperwork and they have said ‘there you go’.

“She has quite severe dementia and staff at the home where she is now have had to learn all sorts of things about her needs as they have gone along, rather than being given a decent amount of time to find out what her needs are. But I’m not sure I would want her to go back to Hazel Garth because moving a dementia patient when they are in such a bad way can have a very detrimental impact on their health.”

Knottingley”s Lib Dem councillors were not informed of the plan to shut the home Councillor Rachel Speak first learned of the closure when she received a phone call from a distraught resident.

She said: “Nobody was on site who was responsible for making the decision and I was having to deal with it despite being given no indication of what was going to happen. They literally made the decision and hid.

“The staff were crying their eyes out begging to go with the residents to their new homes so they could settle them in. It was so traumatic to watch.

“It feels like democracy doesn’t exist half of the time. I’m still carrying the trauma from the day. The families have said they now have absolutely no faith in Wakefield Council. You can’t just get that back overnight can you? But you only have to look at the statistics for dementia. This place needs to be reopened.”

Lib Dem group leader Pete Girt, also a councillor for Knottingley, said: “There is a culture in Wakefield Council where people aren’t allowed to speak out and that needs to change. There is an attitude among the senior council staff that elected members don’t matter.

“I remember being told by a senior council officer soon after I was elected ‘don’t think any of you are going to make a difference. I don’t have to listen to anything you say because none of you are in the cabinet’. That was my introduction to being a councillor.

“That attitude seems to affect us in everything we try to do. You are battling against it all of the time. Knottingley is one of the most deprived towns in the district. Some of the care home staff live on the Warwick estate, which is one of the area’s most deprived estates.

“They took the job because they could walk to Hazel Garth and it worked for child care. They just haven’t thought about it.”