A widower and his autistic adult son have been saved from years of "self neglect" after they were found with decade-old food in the fridge and bedding they had never changed. The bereaved pair’s desperate predicament followed the death of the man's wife, but authorities were unaware until he was taken to Southmead Hospital A&E in Bristol in a “significantly malnourished” state, having suffered a fall.
North Bristol NHS Trust’ s (NBT’s) safeguarding team raised the alarm and social services visited the pair’s home, to find what one experienced social worker described as the worst case of self neglect he had ever seen. Trust board members heard the house was “uninhabitable” with urine and faecal stained carpets and mattresses, a fire risk because of clutter and had mould on the walls and no working oven.
NBT mental health liaison specialist practitioner Gayna Scott-Angell told the meeting: “The son reported he had never eaten hot food in his life, he was living off cereal, milk and canned drinks. This wasn’t in connection to his diagnosis of autistic spectrum disorder.
