Cumbria care home left without power for five days

Lydia Marshall travelled 300 miles from Southampton to check on her 91-year-old mother Dorothy McGuire

Families have criticised a private care home after their elderly relatives went five days without heating or light.

Four residents at Hollybank Care Home in Arnside, Cumbria, were treated for hypothermia and all 15 have been evacuated to temporary accommodation.

Pearlcare, which runs the home, said it kept in regular contact with families - but some relatives dispute this.

Lydia Marshall drove 300 miles after being unable to contact her 91-year-old mum and found her crying in the dark.

Ms Marshall, who lives near Southampton, said when she reached her mother Dorothy: "She couldn't see, she had nothing.

"She had a little torch by her bed that she'd been given and that was it."

'Room getting cold'

Michelle Brown, whose 97-year-old aunt lives at the home, claimed staff had "dithered" for days.

She said she asked what plans were being put in place shortly after the power went off on Friday and was told the home was trying to get hold of a generator.

"I spent all day there and the room was starting to get cold," she said.

Ms Brown said she could not get through on the home's landline or staff mobile phones the following day.

"Nobody was responding to me at all," she said.

"I had a brief phone call on the Sunday from the manager to tell me that they would have a contingency plan in place but they were providing food and hot water from the local pub.

"In the meantime, the temperature was dropping - it got down to about 15C."

All 15 residents at Hollybank Care Home in Arnside have been moved to temporary accommodation

Residents were only moved when a senior manager from the company travelled from Wales on Tuesday to act on advice from Cumbria's social services and a local GP, she said.

In an update sent to Westmorland and Lonsdale MP Tim Farron, social services said transferring people was always a last resort but the "risk to life and health was so significant that moving to another setting was the safest option".

Emergency services were called on Tuesday evening to move the 15 residents to temporary accommodation in Kendal.

In a statement, Pearlcare said senior managers "began to develop a robust contingency plan" as soon as the damage was identified and it was "working as speedily and as safely as possible" to restore power.

"Pearlcare recognises that this has been a particularly stressful time for our residents, relatives and staff," it said.

Ms Brown said she was "very angry".

'Low body temperatures'

"I feel communication's broken down, the situation has been very badly mishandled," she said.

Chris Coldwell, executive GP partner at Ash Trees Surgery said it sent a GP after receiving a phone call from a social care worker.

"On arrival the GP assessed all 15 residents and found that three of them had low body temperatures and were at high risk of developing hypothermia.

"At this stage it was decided that it wasn't safe for the residents to remain at Hollybank Care Home and emergency services were called to transfer all residents to a place of safety.

"We will be working closely with partners to ensure lessons are learnt from this incident."