A £2,400-a-week care home where staff were secretly filmed abusing 88-year-old Ann King is still breaking Care Act regulations despite a public outcry over her treatment.
Recent inspections of Reigate Grange revealed there were still not enough trained staff, medicines were not being administered properly and the home to 74 people was “not always safe” and “not always well led”. The “luxury” home is marketed as offering the “highest possible standards of assisted living with the best possible care”.
Footage of King’s abuse released by the Guardian in October went viral attracting at least 8m views. It showed her being taunted, mocked and sworn at when she was confused and frightened. The former nurse, who was living with dementia, was assaulted by a cleaner, who hit her with a rag used to clean a toilet, threatened to empty a bin on her and made indecent sexual gestures to her face.
Reigate Grange in Surrey, owned by Signature Senior Lifestyle (SSL), blamed “a small number of reprehensible individuals”. It said it had “identified and implemented improvements”, adding: “We look forward to our reinspection in the near future.”
But Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspectors, visiting unannounced and in the middle of the night in January, have again rated the home “requires improvement”, putting it in the bottom 17% of adult social care services.
SSL is one of several UK private care chains bought in recent years by the Canadian company Revera Inc. Revera is, in turn, wholly owned by the pension fund for Canadian federal government workers, a C$230bn (£150bn) investment firm.
King’s son Richard Last, who installed a secret camera on his mother’s bedside table when his family grew worried about staff behaviour, said he felt he could “explode” when he read the latest report.
“They haven’t learned,” Last said. “They don’t give a monkey’s and they think they can get away with it. A lot of what is wrong now is what I was complaining about in 2021 – the medicines, not knowing people’s problems.”
The latest inspections found workers on the dementia-specialist floor where King was abused did not always have the right training and experience. There were complaints about agency staff and medicines were not always administered in line with instructions and records were not always consistent with people’s care plans.
“Aspects of the service were not always safe and there was limited assurance about safety,” the CQC found. “There was an increased risk that people could be harmed.”
The footage Last passed to the Guardian showed King being roughly handled by care workers seeking to change her incontinence pad.
But deficiencies in guidance on physical intervention techniques still “left people at risk of harm” and one staff member told the CQC: “Staff need to be trained more around restraint.”
The inspection concluded: “The frequency of physical intervention was not monitored to ascertain whether it was proportionate, in line with best interest decisions, followed legislation and reflected people’s planned care.”
King died last year after her family removed her from the home, which was rated “requires improvement” in the areas of “safe”, and “well led” and “good” in the areas of caring, responsive and effective.
A spokesperson for SSL said: “We are pleased the CQC rates our home as good in three out of the five areas the regulator inspects, and recognises our residents are kept safe by colleagues who understand their safeguarding roles and responsibilities.
“We take any feedback we receive from the regulator very seriously and will continue to work with them to address any further required improvements. Our overriding priority is to continue working closely with our residents and their loved ones in maintaining an environment where they feel safe and happy. We are very grateful for the continued support of our residents, their families and colleagues, our aim is to ensure that this home joins the rest of our communities which are all currently rated either good or outstanding by the CQC.”
