December 21, 2016 12.23 pm This story is over 87 months old

Residents of disgraced Lincoln village care home ‘abused, starved and left in own filth’

A whistleblower has described scenes of shocking neglect at a care home south of Lincoln, where they claim residents were “physically and verbally abused”, underfed and left in their own dirt and faeces. The Limes care home in Scopwick will be closed in the New Year following a recent damning inspection which revealed a catalogue of neglect and safety breaches.…
Pictures sent in to The Lincolnite by a source who revealed experienced of filthy conditions and neglect at The Limes care home south of Lincoln.

A whistleblower has described scenes of shocking neglect at a care home south of Lincoln, where they claim residents were “physically and verbally abused”, underfed and left in their own dirt and faeces.

The Limes care home in Scopwick will be closed in the New Year following a recent damning inspection which revealed a catalogue of neglect and safety breaches.

A source, who wished not to be named, told The Lincolnite they had witnessed chronic mistreatment of elderly clients, many of whom required specialist care for conditions such as dementia.

Alongside a number of shocking photographs showing rooms piled high with soiled laundry, dirty surfaces and litter, allegations centred around abuse by members of staff.

“Between June and November management got ride of eight staff and employed workers without DBS checks”, they explained.

“I witnessed staff verbally and physically abusing residents.

“At one point I witnessed two female staff dragging an elderly person into the home from the front entrance by his arms. The resident screamed in agony and begged to be let go.

“Staff refused to assist with toileting and several residents were left in soiled and saturated incontinence aids for hours on end.

“There was also another resident who was left at the breakfast table for over nine hours on multiple occasions.

“The laundry room got so backed up at one point during a norovirus outbreak that the residents ran out of clothes, bedding and towels.

The whistleblower explained drug record books were left on public display and litter was left on surfaces.

“There is constantly faeces all over the walls, light switches etc. The home smells of urine. There was dust, walls with big gauges taken out of them and general untidiness. The home is rife with mice and bugs even though this had been reported.”

The recent CQC report found residents were suffering regular falls in the home and medicines were not being administered safely.

“Residents were having falls nearly every day and these weren’t reported to the correct governing body” the whistleblower continued.

Pictures send in to The Lincolnite with claims that the care home was mismanaged and left in filthy conditions.

“Residents used to escape out the doors/windows all the time. One day during the summer a female resident got out of the back gate and she made it all the way to Rowston, a good two miles up the main road, before any staff noticed she’d gone missing.”

Inspectors also noted people were not receiving adequate nutrition. The source told The Lincolnite the home’s second weekly food delivery had been stopped.

“At one point residents were given a small jacket potato (size of a tennis ball), spoonful of beans and a pre packeted chuck of cheese for their dinner – bear in mind some of these residents pay £500 plus a week.”

As reported previously, Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspectors found residents shivering in dirty rooms and noted significant safety risks and management failings when they visited the facility in November.

Following the report, which rated the care home as ‘inadequate’, owners Ablegrange (Lincoln) Ltd announced the home would close in the New Year.

New accommodation is being found for the remaining residents.

Despite being contacted multiple times by The Lincolnite, owners of the care home did not respond to the findings of the report and the following allegations made to reporters.