Principles of Safeguarding in Health and Social Care

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Principles of safeguarding and protection in health and social care Section 4 – Task Four care workers have been sentenced for abusing elderly residents at a care home in Lancashire. The abuse took place from May 2010 to September 2011 at Hillcroft nursing home in Slyne-with-Hest near Lancaster. They were charged with ill-treatment and wilful neglect of a person with lack of capacity under the Mental Capacity Act 2005. Residents were mocked, bullied and tormented because they would have no memory of the abuse. The court was told one man had his foot stamped on deliberately and another was nearly tipped out of his wheelchair. The vulnerable victims were also pelted with bean bags and balls at their heads "for entertainment". The offences related to eight victims, seven men and one woman, all aged in their 70s or 80s, with the eldest aged 85. The directors and management of Hillcroft failed in their basic duty to ensure safe care for residents. During sentencing Judge Michael Byrne said: "Some of the offences were gratuitous sport at the expense of vulnerable victims. Each of these defendants broke the trust placed in them." The son of the man whose foot was stamped on thanked the whistle-blowers who were "brave enough" to come forward. After a trial in November, one carer was convicted of three charges. The Team leader was found guilty of one offence involving striking a resident. Judge Byrne added: "A lack of proper management allowed a culture to develop where conduct of this sort was allowed to carry on." The court had heard they had previously been suspended from the home following abuse allegations made by a receptionist and a cleaner in September 2011. But they returned to work after being handed warnings as a result of an internal investigation and the matter was not referred to the police or social services. It was several months later those

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