A HORROR STORY THAT IS TRULY TERRIFYING...

Looking for a good Care Home for an ailing or infirm relative?  Then I'd strongly advise against using Meadowbrook (formerly known as Whitehills) in East Kilbride if you're the obstinate, hard-to-please kind of person who has the temerity to expect your loved one to be looked after properly and have a nice clean room to reside in.  And if you're the sort who complains when your expectations aren't met, then tough - what do you expect for your money?

Below are just a few photos of my mother's room over the last couple of years up to the present day.  Before I started recording the state of the place, my mother very often had dirty plates and cups left on top of her bed, hours after she had been 'fed and watered'.  She was scared to move in case she dislodged them onto the floor, so had to wait until a member of staff could be @rsed to come into her room and remove them.

Previously, she was left overnight with no toilet roll or paper towels, as when I was leaving at the end of my visit, I alerted the staff who told me there was none on the premises due to a late delivery.  I complained about this to, I think, the Care Inspectorate (or maybe the local council), who sent someone up to check (weeks later) and because everything seemed all right then, my complaint wasn't upheld.

I've got dozens more photos of similar instances to those below, and I may well show them in the future.  Meadowbrook are now playing dirty by making spurious allegations about my conduct in order to silence me, but it won't work.  I suspect that some staff have decided to seek revenge against me for making formal complaints about them or their colleagues, hence spurious claims like the following.

"Over recent weeks, staff have reported repeated instances of intimidating behaviour, inappropriate physical conduct, and inappropriate comments directed against them.  These incidents have caused genuine distress to those involved and have, in specific instances, been referred to Police Scotland given the nature and severity of the behaviours described."

That being the case (and aside from the fact that they're imaginary), why was I completely unaware of any of this until now, only learning of these alleged incidents from an email I received three days ago?  I have received quite a few emails from this individual over several weeks in response to my own complaints, and none of this was ever alluded to.  More to the point, why did none of the staff mention any of this when it was supposed to have happened?  No one ever displayed or expressed any discomfit or concern to me about my 'behaviour' (or speech) at any time.  And why would I even reveal any of this to anyone if it were true, or in case any of you might believe it to be true, unless I was blameless?  The Home has cameras all over the place, so it would be relatively easy for them to check footage and see if there was any evidence of such behaviour on my part.  And why haven't the police been in touch with me if I've been reported to them - 'given the nature and severity of the behaviours described'?

Well, it's obvious (to me at least) that this is an insidious ploy to intimidate me and make me think twice about following up my stated intentions of seeking legal redress against them and once more contacting the media.  (The local paper published an article about my unhappiness with them around three years ago, but the Home wouldn't respond.)  They think I'll want to avoid any potential personal embarrassment about the nature of these claims which would come to light if I make my case public.  In short, if I blow the whistle on them about documented and photographed instances of inferior standards of care, they'll reveal their manufactured and alleged instances of inappropriate behaviour about me.

Here's the thing, though.  I have never touched any member of staff in any manner, nor physically or verbally (and definitely not sexually) threatened or assaulted any of them either.  It's all complete and utter bollocks, so I'm certainly not going to be embarrassed about things I haven't done.  Have I complained in a robust and forthright manner about staff not doing their job to an acceptable standard?  Yes.  Have I expressed ire and frustration about some staff being seemingly incapable and inept?  Sure have, as is my right as someone with Power of Attorney and a Certificate of Incapacity in regard to my mother.  I expect the very best care for her and I make no apologies about it.

I also suspect that if complaints have actually been made about me, some staff might be seeking revenge on behalf of their colleagues who I've formally complained about, in order to discredit me and give Meadowbrook the means by which to deny me access to my mother, as has been threatened in the email I recently received.  Perhaps you consider my suspicions fanciful and far-fetched?  I remember watching a TV expose on Care Homes a few years back (Panorama maybe?) and there was secretly filmed footage of managers telling staff not to worry about complaints about them, as they 'had their back'.  This sort of thing happens more often than you might realise, sadly.  It's a pure disgrace.  (I'm also left to wonder how anyone could find an old disabled guy who can hardly walk and suffers from near constant fatigue the slightest bit intimidating.  I think in their desire to 'do me down', they've over-egged the pudding.)

As I said somewhere on another post, perhaps in reply to a comment, I've been trying to get my mother moved to another Care Home for around two years or more.  As regards the one she currently resides in, I had no choice in the matter, nor was I told that The Evening Times (a Glasgow newspaper) ran an expose on many serious infractions in regard to care a few years back.  Why are relatives not informed by social workers who decide on these placements, about any negative aspects of them which might elicit a refusal by relatives to have their loved ones placed in Care Homes with poor reputations?

The social worker involved in my mother's case, though helpful in a few instances in having the Care Home observe my wishes, never seemed to want to move my mother as, he claimed, it wouldn't be in her best interests.  I'd say that was my call, not his, wouldn't you?  I repeatedly expressed my wishes to him over the last week or ten days, and his most recent response was to say that he'd have to inform any potential Home of the unproven allegations against me, and my continual complaining about my mother's current placement.  You couldn't more effectively influence a Care Home into declining to give accommodation to someone's relative if you tried, could you?  (Yet relatives aren't informed by the Social Work Department about things they should know in relation to a Care Home's performance.)  To me, he seems determined to deny my mother, in what is probably the last stages of her life, the right to live them out in a (hopefully) better place which has more respect for her relatives.

As I have now been threatened (under false pretences) with being banned from my mother's current Home unless I bite my tongue in the future, I think it's completely unacceptable to expect me to continue visiting the place with the risk of lying and conspiring staff and management holding the 'civilian' equivalent of the Sword of Damocles over me.  Far better to start again with no preconceived notions (or fabricated accusations in their case) on either side.  My mother doesn't know where she is, she doesn't recognise most of the staff (or understand them due to inpenetrable accents - nor do I, actually) and she's been moved from one side of the building to another, with no discernible negative effect on her.

If she were to be moved to another Home, she wouldn't even be aware of it, and if she were, she'd merely assume she'd been moved to a new room in another side of the same building.  That's what I'd tell her anyway.  Then I could visit without the stress and anxiety of possibly being labelled a violent thug or a seedy pervert.  I'll tell you one thing - if she passes away without being moved, I will dedicate myself to exposing Meadowbrook and Enhance - and social workers - as the lying, dishourable bastards that they are.  And that's a promise!  Now take a look at these photos and ask yourselves this - would you place any of your relatives in such a place?  Comments welcome!   

Incidentally, though this photo is virtually identical to the one above, it
was taken a full week later, as the dates on the SD Memory card confirm.
The floor hadn't been cleaned in a week, possibly longer.  Shocking!