Islington Council investigating following claims of neglect

A grieving niece of a man with terminal cancer described the care he received leading up to his death as a “nightmare”.

Sadja Mughal has accused Lennox House care home, in Durham Road, Holloway, of responsibility for a litany of failings as they looked after her uncle, Mohamed Sheikh, before he was admitted to hospital and died last month.

She alleges that he suffered numerous falls, was not washed for days at a time and was left to sit in dirty clothes in a dirty bed.

When he was taken to the Whittington Hospital, his case notes said he was “dehydrated to failure” and had suffered a “breakdown in care package”, according to Ms Mughal.

She said: “It was a nightmare. He was taken out without being strapped into his chair and I saw him fall out while the carer looked on. He bruised his head.

“I called an ambulance for him myself twice.

“There was a complete lack of care. He was left in his room dehydrated.

“He wouldn’t be showered for days. His bed would be dirty and he developed bed sores. It was disgusting.

“He was neglected and there were huge safeguarding issues.

“When he was finally admitted to hospital he had an infection in his blood and jaundice, which I feel was down to lack of care.

“His treatment was a joke.

Cllr Janet Burgess, Islington Council’s executive member for health and wellbeing, said: “We take the welfare of vulnerable service users very seriously and will investigate any complaint of neglect.

‘Dedicated’

“We have launched a safeguarding investigation into this case and are unable to comment further because of service-user confidentiality.”

Speaking before Mr Sheikh died, a spokesman for Care UK, which runs Lennox House, said: “The team at the home have worked hard to ensure that they can respect Mr Sheikh’s desire to maintain his independence – for example by choosing what he prefers to eat and to take trips outside the home.

“None of the complaints made to us by Mr Sheikh’s family member have been substantiated.

“Lennox House is run by a very capable and experienced manager who leads a team dedicated to providing compassionate, high-quality care.

“Recent CQC inspections have shown that the home is fully compliant.

“We are continuing to work with the local authority to see whether any of the complaints lodged in this case require any action from us and we cannot comment further until those discussions have reached a conclusion.”

Earlier this year, two nurses were found guilty of misconduct after an 83-year-old woman died after suffering neglect at Lennox House in 2007.

Attention was drawn to the home in 2008 when allegations that two dead bodies had been left in their beds for several days came to light.

Late last year it was claimed that staff had failed to spot an 89-year-old’s broken hip for two days.

However, an inspection by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in July found Lennox House, which caters for 87 people, was meeting all the essential standards of quality and safety.