A GRIEVING family says another nursing home scandal could happen as financial problems caused by the Covid-19 pandemic hit the care sector.
Edith Evans, 85, died in hospital in September 2005 having been a resident at the troubled Brithdir nursing home in New Tredegar.
She had been so poorly neglected by the nursing home that hospital staff were shocked by her condition.
Mrs Evans, who did not have any children, was survived by her niece Gail Morris and twin sisters Gaynor and Betty Williams.
Edith Evans
They sat through weeks of evidence at Gwent Coroner’s Court and were shocked at what they learnt, as they had believed that after 15 years of campaigning, a police inquiry and an independent Welsh Government review they knew everything.
“We were horrified. There’s more come out and we thought we knew everything, we knew so little,” Gaynor Williams said.
Mrs Morris said: “We didn’t think we could learn any more but we have, none of it good.
“I think we have been angry since October 2005 when Edie went into hospital and that’s when we found out how bad things were.”
They said they learnt their aunt had contracted MRSA twice and safeguarding meetings were held to discuss her care.
Like other families they only found out Dr Prana Das ran Brithdir after the death of Mrs Evans.
“The exact same thing happened to us when they said Aunt Edie was going into Brithdir and we said didn’t Dr Das own it and they said no, he’s not there now,” Gaynor Evans said.
“I can remember them saying he didn’t have it then when she went in.”
Mrs Morris’s husband Kelvyn said Dr Das should never have been allowed to take over Brithdir in 2002 as he was well known to the authorities.
Edith Evans
“It has been one of the big things our barrister Ben Summers brought up. There were all these problems, yet the authorities kept registering him for new homes,” Mr Morris said.
“He’d use a different company name and the authorities had little teeth to stop him. The fact there was institutional abuse in so many places – probably more than the homes we are looking at – and yet they were happy to place residents there.
“What got me was the comment from Merthyr Borough Council social services put an embargo on any of their residents going anywhere near Das homes.
“Yet the Caerphilly County Borough continued to place residents there. Is that damning?”
Mr Morris said the homes run by Dr Das should have been closed years before because the problems were known.
“There was institutional abuse back in 2003 – there were several opportunities many years before,” he said.
“We can see that Das was the biggest problem but when you see the quality of the staff he employed, you can why there were problems.
“With all the information we have received you can see the wider picture and the complicity of everybody involved with the state agencies.
“Nobody making the right decision, they all had other agendas and the poor residents were the last on the list to be thought about, apart from one person, Care Inspectorate Wales inspector Alison Price.”
His wife said: “Listening to her evidence, although it was very depressing, you realised she was the only one that stood up to Das and tried to do her very best for the residents.”
Mr Morris said Operation Jasmine looked at the deaths of 106 elderly residents at homes in South Wales and there have since been changes to the care system.
“It is still not perfect, but I think it is a far better regime now. As long as they keep learning and not standing still then we will be OK,” he said.
“The line last week was, ‘We believe it won’t happen again’. It will, I hope it doesn’t take as many deaths to make that change again.
“A lot of people died at his homes, they died prematurely and died distressingly and in pain, that they didn’t need to.
Edith Evans
“I think the triggers are the financial state of the care sector. There are so many stories going around at the moment about care home finances being perilous.
“If finances are under pressure then care will be under pressure. It doesn’t have to be a Das, it can be Covid-19. Unless there is an oversight layer that really works, it can happen again.”
Mrs Morris said: “It would be nice to say it won’t happen again, but I think it could easily happen again.”
More on the conclusion of the inquest:
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here