Orchid View care scandal managers 'not held to account'

Judith Charatan's mother Doris Fielding was among the 19 who died

Families of 19 people who died at a scandal-hit Sussex care home have said managers were never held to account.

Relatives of those who died at Orchid View, run by Southern Cross, have stepped up calls for a public inquiry in a submission to the health select committee.

Campaigners said answers were still needed and information had been withheld.

The now-defunct Southern Cross closed in 2011.

The care home in Copthorne, near Crawley, later reopened under a new name and new management.

While operational, Orchid View saw 19 unexplained deaths, out of which five involved neglect. West Sussex coroner Penelope Schofield described the home as being riddled with "institutional abuse".

Judith Charatan said confidential papers about her mother had not been released

Judith Charatan, whose mother Doris Fielding died at the Crawley home, told the committee an inquiry was still needed even after the inquest in 2013 and a serious case review the following year.

She said: "After the inquest we were still not satisfied that nobody had been held to account.

"There were lots of unanswered questions."

Ms Charatan said she later became aware of confidential data relating to her mother's case she had not been able to access.

"They couldn't release any information. They couldn't give names," she said.

No-one was prosecuted after the deaths at Orchid View.

Two people were arrested on suspicion of manslaughter by gross negligence of resident Jean Halfpenny, but they were stood down from bail without charge because of insufficient evidence.

Three others were arrested on suspicion of ill-treatment and neglect.

They were also stood down from bail because of insufficient evidence to justify prosecution, Sussex Police said.

'Public inquiry'

Families sent the submission to the committee through Crawley MP Henry Smith who said he and Horsham MP Jeremy Quin both agreed there should be an inquiry.

Relatives had campaigned for years for an inquiry without success.

Mr Smith said: "What's changed is the concerns they have, that I have, that Orchid View was very disturbing but more recently there have been concerns about care homes elsewhere."

He said: "I think Orchid View relatives deserve a public inquiry anyway.

"In the light of care homes elsewhere, similar concerns are still potentially prevalent in the care sector locally."

Orchid View, run by Southern Cross, closed in 2011

Mr Smith said his "gut feeling" was managers at Orchid View had not been fully held to account.

He said: "I suspect it was one of those cases where circumstantially I think there are further questions to answer, but perhaps there wasn't the weight of substantial evidence to fully back that up.

"That doesn't detract from the need for a public inquiry in my opinion. It makes it appropriate."

A spokesman for West Sussex County Council said: "We don't believe that a public enquiry is the best way of bringing about the sort of change required within the care sector.

We continue to lobby central government to bring about change at a national level in order to improve standards of care."