'It haunts me she didn't get treatment' says daughter of Scottish care home Covid victim

A woman whose mother died of coronavirus in a care home says she is “haunted” by her “horrible death” as she wasn’t admitted to hospital for care, and accused the government of “writing off” the elderly.

Sandra O'Neill says she is "haunted" by the death of her mum in a care home.

Sandra O’Neill’s 88-year-old mum died in Almond Court care home in Drumchapel in April – 16 days after a fellow resident returned from hospital despite being unwell.

Mrs O’Neill said that her mother Mary Masson, who had been in the care home for three years as she suffered from vascular dementia, had been in good health until three days before she died, and believes if she had been taken to hospital she may have recovered.

Her case was raised in Holyrood today by Scottish Conservative leader Jackson Carlaw, who demanded a public inquiry into the government’s decision to discharge older people from hospitals to residential homes without being tested for Covid-19.

Mrs O’Neill, 67, said the Glasgow care home had gone into lockdown on March 13 yet a resident, who had been in hospital, returned to the home despite being ill.

She claims the woman was not isolated and that staff did not wear PPE around her and while that resident was the first to die at the home, nine others had also passed away, including her own mum, and many staff had also gone off sick with suspected coronavirus.

She hit out at the decision to move people out of hospitals without being tested, but said she was angry that her mother had not been given hospital treatment. “Why wasn’t she taken into hospital – why wasn’t she given the proper care?” she said. “I think they [older people] were written off.”

Mrs O’Neill said her mum had a Do Not Resuscitate order in place, but that had not prevented her from receiving hospital treatment in the past when she had been unwell.

“She’d had a high temperature before, broken her hip, had an infection at an other time, and was hospitalised, but my mum was very ill and she wasn’t taken into hospital. She should have been taken into hospital and given oxygen.

“That’s what haunts me, that she didn’t get the opportunity to have treatment, it must have been a horrible death not having oxygen.”

She added: “I want to know how many people have been taken the other way – from care homes to hospitals – to see if people are getting treatment. My biggest question is why were they denied the opportunity to get treatment? Everyone should get that opportunity.

"You see films of people down south in their 90s being applauded getting out of hospital. I can understand why you have to prioritise but I don’t see why they were denied some kind of treatment.”

She said she believed the death of her mum, who was a great-great-grandmother, was as a result of the NHS failing to act because of government guidelines, but added that two senior members of the home had unexpectedly quit in April.

“If I saw Nicola Sturgeon or Jeane Freeman I’d say I believe their intentions were honourable, but it’s not good enough to say care home staff should accept responsibility. The NHS have a duty of care and they did not exercise that duty of care.

“It’s not the fault of the care home but the NHS. There was capacity. We’d opened that hospital [NHS Louisa Jordan] which hasn’t been used. Why weren’t those people isolated in that hospital together?

“The decisions were wrong, they should have been isolated, and my mum should have got hospital treatment. This was just the need for oxygen and she didn’t get that opportunity.”

Mrs O’Neill said that her 92-year-old father Alex, who is self-isolating was unable to see his wife before she died, and also did not attend the funeral.

“We last saw her on March 12. We got an email on the 23rd saying there was a suspected case of Covid-19 and I called the next day to be told that the person who was ill, had returned from hospital, and her family with her, and they weren’t sure it was Covid.

“On April 5 we were told the residents were all lethargic. I got a call on the Tuesday to say mum was pretty poorly and did I want to go and see her? Dad didn’t want to go. I was going to go, but my grand-daughter’s a doctor and she told me not to put myself at risk, which I regret. None of us saw her.

“So I waited til next morning, called at 9.40am and was told the GP was with her, then I got a call at 11.40 to say my mum had passed. Then 10 minutes later the GP called and said she had given her morphine because she was struggling. And that was basically what happened.”

Mrs O’Neill, who described the care home as “wonderful” said there had been a video on its Facebook page which had included the resident who had moved in from hospital “and you could see she was struggling for breath and coughing and none of the care home staff had protective clothing on. She also interacted with four other ladies, three of whom are now dead though one recovered.”

She added: “It’s pretty damning. It’s just awful. The lady who sat with my mum when she died is now off sick. The lady who welcomed the person back from hospital was off sick with Covid-19 after three days for a fortnight.

“Care home workers said she was pretty ill when she came back from hospital, it makes me wonder if she was clinically assessed in hospital. And also I wonder why, when she was ill and a member of staff went off with Covid within three days of her coming back into the home, she was never isolated. She was in the communal areas – you can see it clearly on Facebook – and you can see the staff didn’t have PPE on.”At First Minister’s Questions Mr Carlaw said Mrs O’Neill’s case would be familiar to families across Scotland. He added: “She deserves answers about why her mother contracted the disease that eventually killed her while in a care home.

“Only a full public inquiry will deliver those answers and force this SNP government to come clean about its role in sending contagious patients back to mingle with the most vulnerable people in our society.”

Nicola Sturgeon said that while she could not comment on an individual case, but that guidance had been clear that “clinical risk assessment should be done” of patients being discharged, so “nobody who had symptoms of coronavirus or where the clinical assessment was they should remain in hospital should have been discharged in that way.”

She added: “The Care Inspectorate has an ongoing duty to make sure the concerns around any care homes are proerly considered and that standards are as families and residents have a right to expect.

“Clearly I did not see every patient discharged to a care home, I cannot stand here and give a categoric assurance that no patient with symptoms was discharged, but the guidance was clear. The guidance issued in March to care homes also made clear that there should not be communal dining or activities, that people in care homes should isolated. While all parts of the system have to work together the primary responsibility is for care homes to make sure that guidance is followed.

“At no point were older people treated like second class citizens.”

The operators of the care home, Holmes Care, would not confirm how many residents had died but said it did not take any “new admissions” of people discharged from hospital. However the resident who was first to develop symptoms had been in hospital in March for treatment unrelated to coronavirus, and while a test was requested, none was offered as the policy at the time required two residents to by symptomatic.

A spokesperson said: “Like many other care providers, we have sadly had first-hand experience in dealing with coronavirus in our care home, and someresidents have sadly passed away with the virus. Our thoughts are with their loved ones at this difficult time, and they will be greatly missed by staff and residents alike.“I can confirm that we currently have no confirmed or suspected cases within the home.“We continue to be vigilant and are following all the relevant guidance from Health Protection Scotland and the Scottish Government in relation to infection prevention and control. We have a good supply of PPE which is distributed in line with this guidance.“We could not be prouder of our staff team who continue to go above and beyond to safeguard residents during this challenging time”.

She also confirmed that the Home Manager and office administrator had left in April, and an experienced interim Home Manager was now in place.

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