An 89-year-old dementia sufferer was evicted from a failing care home a day after breaking two fingers in an “incident” now being probed by a safeguaridng experts.
Frail Grace Nightingale is currently in hospital awaiting plastic surgery to repair sickening injuries.
But while she lay stricken care home bosses made a decision to “permanently discharge” her.
Just hours earlier panicked staff had called 999 when they saw the frail mum-of-three’s hand covered in blood.
The home has apologised and launched a probe, but the former lollipop lady, diagnosed with vascular dementia in 2016, remains homeless.
Daughter Karen Cummings, 59, said: “This has really upset me because I feel they are taking revenge on my mother who cannot fight back. She told me ‘those people don't like me and I did nothing’ but because she has this disease it would be difficult to prove who she is talking about.”
On February 11 Selina Ali, manager of Gorton Parks Care Home in Manchester, wrote to Karen under its “duty of candour” to apologise for an incident seven days earlier during which Mrs Nightingale fractured the middle and ring fingers on her right hand.
She said: “I would like to express our sincere apologies that this event occurred and that we are sorry for any harm or distress this may have caused.
“We take this matter extremely seriously and we are currently carrying out a full and thorough investigation and will inform you of the outcome when this has concluded.”
According to the home, staff saw Mrs Nightingale standing in the middle of a corridor with her hand covered in blood on February 4. They later noticed a deep cut on two fingers on her right hand.
She was taken by ambulance to Manchester Royal Infirmary and remains under the care of specialists. A safeguarding probe has been launched and the Care Quality Watchdog [CQC] notified.
The letter of apology - seen by the Express - relates to an incident that occurred at the home 24-hours before it “permanently discharged” Mrs Nightingale, effective from February 5, while she was in hospital.
Karen has a meeting with Manchester City Council, which funds her mother’s care, next week.
Mrs Nightingale raised three children single handedly and made ends meet as a lollipop and dinner lady.
She entered Gorton Parks in 2021, but Karen says she waged a daily battle with staff over her care in a story that will be depressingly familiar to millions trying to navigate an overrun system on behalf of loved ones.
She contacted the Express after reading our eviscerating report on the state of adult social care and the devastating toll it had taken on actress Ruthie Henshall, who saw her mum languish inside a failing care home.
Campaigner Ruthie, 57, was banned from hugging or holding former teacher Gloria, who battled Parkinson’s and dementia before her death aged 87 in 2021.
The I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! star said the quality of care is now so bad she would rather be dead than dumped in a home, telling the Express: “I have already asked my sister, ‘please take me out’. If I have dementia, and I have any capacity, there is no way I am going into a care home because there is no way I am giving that burden to my children. What I witnessed and what went through with mum was so horrific.
“And what people don’t realise is it could be you, it could be me, waking up in one of these sub-par care homes not being allowed to see loved ones. How is that going to feel?”
The 120-bed Gorton Parks home, run by Advinia Care Homes Limited, specialises in caring for those with dementia.
The CQC rated it requires improvement after an inspection last year, and in its report said “People felt staff were kind and caring but the lack of [staff] impacted on people being effectively supported. Audits to monitor and improve the home were not always effective. Staff were kind and caring but were visibly stretched.”
Children’s care worker and mum-of-two Karen, who had been visiting her mother twice a day before the incident, said: “This is absolutely a revenge eviction, no question. I have been complaining for four years non-stop about my mother’s personal care. They wanted to get rid of me, so they got rid of mum. This is happening all over the country. When I put my mum in care I didn’t expect this to happen.
“Most days when I went in I was alright, but when I left I was in floods of tears. It has taken its toll.”
Karen received a 28-day notice to quit last year, but by the time it had expired on September 5, no suitable alternative accommodation had been found for her mother.
Gorton Parks Care Home said: “The safety and well-being of our residents is our top priority, and we work closely with families to support their loved ones.
“Advinia has a separate resident safeguarding team independent of the home which highlights and brings to attention any resident whose care cannot be met.
“We can confirm that notice was served in the summer [2024] to find a more suitable care setting for Mrs Nightingale where her needs could be safely managed. We have been working closely with her family and the authorities throughout this process. It is unfortunate that in spite of informing the family and authorities eight months ago, a suitable placement was not found for her.
“Mrs Nightingale sustained a hand injury earlier this month, and we wish her a full and speedy recovery in the weeks ahead.”
Manchester City Council said: "We are working with the family and actively seeking an alternative and appropriate care home to meet her needs in anticipation of her discharge from hospital."
Last year in a report for charity Care Rights UK frightened families of those in homes told how they were too scared to blow the whistle for fear their loved ones will be evicted.
The terror of so-called “revenge evictions” has stopped many from raising the alarm to the CQC.
Two thirds of respondents living in care, or their advocates, were “not confident” or “not confident at all” in the CQC’s ability to ensure health and social care services provide people with safe, effective, compassionate, high-quality care. And 56 per cent who experienced poor quality care did not report their concerns because many feared spiteful repercussions like eviction.
One person giving evidence to the audit under condition of anonymity said: “The CQC appears almost powerless. It is common practice for care providers to find reasons to evict or threaten to evict residents if family members raise concerns. Safeguarding teams will excuse incidents rather than investigate and are almost afraid to challenge as there are shortfalls in available placements and a bad place is better than no placement in their eyes.
“Family members are left trying to make the best of very bad situations with no professional support.”
Last month the new boss of the CQC, Sir Julian Hartley, told the Express: “We want people to share information with us so we can use it to monitor services and to take action if we need to. Other organisations rather than us are responsible for handling individual complaints, but when people share concerns, they should expect a proper response, and to know when we have passed on urgent safeguarding alerts to the relevant local organisation for action. I want people to be confident that when they share concerns they’re acted on appropriately – but I recognise that we’ll need to work hard to regain people’s trust.”
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