A SAFEGUARDING body has found neglect at a care home in Callands, with the daughter of one elderly resident saying her mum would have died if she hadn’t acted.

An investigation into Callands Care Home in Lydbury Close was triggered after the daughter of a 75-year-old resident, who had lived at the home since suffering a severe stroke in 2011, noticed that her mum had lost a ‘significant’ amount of weight and had a yellow complexion.

The Warrington Guardian has obtained an internal report into her care by the home’s operators HC One as well as notes by Warrington Borough Council’s safeguarding adults unit.

Their report showed that the 75-year-old lost 18kg – around 23 per cent of her body weight – between October and December without informing her daughter or GP, but the operator said that concerns were only partly-substantiated as it was not due to nutritional intake.

But Warrington Borough Council’s safeguarding adults unit found that the weight loss had amounted to neglect, as had the monitoring of her health – with no recording of the woman’s weight made in November.

HC One also said that worries around the resident’s oral hygiene were only partially-substantiated, but the safeguarding unit found that she had missed four dental appointments in 2014 and 2015.

Concerns were raised around a splint used on the woman’s hand that went missing – her family was told that one had been ordered although her GP never received such a request.

In this instance HC One dismissed the concerns as unsubstantiated, as were complaints that the 75-year-old was in pain after spending hours at a time in her wheelchair – but the safeguarding unit said in these three instances there was ‘clear evidence of poor-quality care’.

A risk management plan has since been implemented at the home, while the woman has moved to another home.

This plan includes an internal investigation into the home manager, an order to improve care records, formal counselling for the member of staff who failed to take action on the woman’s weight loss, supervision for nurses to ‘reflect on missed weight recording and failure to seek medical advice in a timely manner’ plus staff training and supervision around oral hygiene.

The former resident’s daughter believes her mum may have died if they had not removed her from Callands Care Home.

She said: “We’ve now moved her from the home but I’ve been told on more than one occasion by qualified medical people that if I hadn’t intervened then I would’ve lost my mum and they’d have been looking at a manslaughter charge.

“It’s really not on and people need to be made aware of what this company is like.”

A spokesman for Callands Care Home apologised for the care that the 75-year-old received.

They said: “We are very sorry that in this instance the quality of care did not meet the high standards we set ourselves and that residents deserve.

“We have carried out a thorough review, both internally and with the local authority, and taken the feedback very seriously – as a result we have implemented a new system for monitoring our residents’ weight and making sure that their relatives are kept informed at all times.

“Our absolute number one priority is delivering high-quality and kind care to all our residents.”

Warrington Borough Council said it would continue to monitor the Callands Care Home alongside Warrington NHS Clinical Commissioning Group and the Care Quality Commission.

A council spokesman said: “Following a complaint, the home carried out an internal investigation and the council’s safeguarding team reviewed the findings as we do with all such cases – it was found that there were failings in the quality of care.

“An improvement plan is in place to address the findings and the home is required to implement these as part of its contractual obligations.

“In partnership with Warrington CCG and the CQC, we are closely monitoring the quality of care to make sure these improvements are delivered effectively to ensure the safety, health and wellbeing of residents.”