Brithdir Nursing Home: Staff 'a bit lax with the paperwork'

Brithdir care home is now under new management

A care assistant at a home where residents died after suffering alleged neglect sometimes failed to fill in paperwork properly, an inquest heard.

June Smith, who worked at Brithdir Nursing Home during a period when seven residents died, said she got no training to work on the night shift.

Ms Smith also said claims agency staff often slept on shift were ignored.

An inquest in Newport is examining the residents' deaths at the New Tredegar home, from 2003 until May 2005.

The hearing has been told about the death of William Hickman, a former "fit and active" coalminer known as "John."

He died aged 71 in September 2004, after being rushed to hospital from the home with a severe chest infection.

William Hickman, along with Evelyn Jones (pictured), was among residents who died following stays at the home

His cause of death was given as pneumonia and dementia with cerebral vascular disease but it was noted he also had an "extensive" number of pressure sores.

Tests also suggested evidence he was suffering severe dehydration and malnourishment.

Admitted to Brithdir in November 1999 with signs of severe dementia and other health problems, he was able to walk with assistance.

However, during his final year at the home he was said to be "immobile" and "unable to communicate".

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Mr Hickman's niece Maureen Cullen said he hadn't been able to feed himself for some time and she never saw staff feed him, so her mother would do so.

Ms Smith said Mr Hickman was "a character" who would swear when frustrated, and often cried out during the night.

But she said she didn't often see his bed sores because they would be dressed by day staff. She knew and understood though some residents had to be regularly turned.

She said she always turned them when required but didn't always complete the paperwork known as the "turn charts".

Geraint Williams, Gwent assistant coroner, said: "You do understand that you should have been doing it?"

The trial of Brithdir's late owner Dr Prana Das for care home neglect collapsed after he suffered brain damage

He said they were completed in the day "but they are blank at night".

Ms Smith said night staff were "definitely" turning patients but were "a bit lax with the paperwork".

She said she often found residents sleeping in positions that didn't match that on their turn chart, and she wasn't prepared to sign her name to a turn she hadn't carried out.

"I stopped filling in the charts after a while," she said.

She said there was a lack of equipment for turning patients and often a lack of staff.

'Never turned anyone'

Ms Smith was asked about her instructions to check patients at night, and to change incontinence pads.

She said when she started she was told to change pads every two hours but later was told by another care assistant residents weren't to be disturbed at night.

Pads, she said she was told, should only be changed if staff could smell they needed to be.

Ms Smith added she changed them regularly anyway because some residents would get sore.

In statements other former Brithdir care workers said they would also not fill in charts.

Mike Philpott - on the night shift from 2003 to 2004 - said he would follow qualified nurses' instructions but had "never turned anyone ever" and his "understanding of the turn chart was that the qualified nurse should do it".

He said he never had turn charts to complete.

Care assistant Susan Jones, said Mr Philpott had shown her how to fill in turn charts but she'd never had one to fill.

The inquest continues.