Brithdir nursing home inquest: Problems 'made staff ill'

The inquest into deaths at the former Brithdir nursing home comes after a major police investigation

Staff were becoming ill trying to resolve constant problems at a care home where alleged neglect took place in the early-2000s, the former chief executive has told an inquest.

Paul Black said it was like being "a rat in a wheel" when he started working for Puretruce Healthcare Ltd in 2003.

"We'd resolve 10 issues and there'd be another 10," Mr Black told the hearing.

The inquest is being held into the deaths of seven residents at the former Brithdir nursing home in New Tredegar.

• Neglect 'left care home residents malnourished'

• Resident "looked like prisoner of war"

• Care home owner 'was embezzling money'

Mr Black said he was "constantly undermined" by Dr Prana Das, the man who owned the company.

"It was making me ill, it was making the staff ill. I was working 60 to 70 hours a week. We were doing our best," he said.

"I pray to God I had never taken that job, had I known the outcome. It was very frustrating. I was not allowed to work as a chief executive. I just couldn't do my job."

Dr Das died last year without facing trial, following one of Wales' biggest inquiries into care home neglect.

Both Dr Das and Mr Black were charged as part of the £11m Operation Jasmine inquiry, with Dr Das also charged with offences relating to theft and false accounting.

Paul Black showed reporters around the home as part of an investigation by BBC Wales in 2005

Asked by the coroner Geraint Williams why he did not resign, Mr Black said: "I had nowhere else to go, I had a mortgage. I had two boys at primary school.

"Morally, I just felt duty bound to try and improve the situation. There was a great deal of emotion involved. You had to try and help them. Not Dr Das - the staff and the residents."

Mr Black had previously told the inquest that his primary focus in the early stages of his employment with Puretruce in 2003 were the financial problems at the company.

But the inquest heard about meetings and written correspondence from the end of 2003 between Care and Social Services Inspectorate Wales - now Care Inspectorate Wales - along with social services and the management team at Brithdir, discussing areas of concern, which included Mr Black.

Coroner Mr Williams asked him to respond to previous evidence outlining a lack of care plans for residents, as well as a lack of adequate training for staff.

Evelyn Jones was one of the residents whose family raised concerns

"I didn't know how severe it was," said Mr Black.

"My focus was on the financial side. I didn't get involved in care plans."

"But it was your function to know what your staff were doing," replied the coroner.

Mr Black said: "I couldn't get involved in medical matters. I wouldn't know how to read a care plan if my life depended on it. I wouldn't know how to help."

The former chief executive was also asked why he appeared to defend Dr Das in a letter to Care and Social Services Inspectorate Wales dated September 2004, even though he admitted realising his boss was "deceptive" and "aggressive" shortly after he started working for Puretruce.

"When I first joined the company I would defend Dr Das, he was my employer, he was a professional doctor," said Mr Black.

"The further I got into working with the company, the more I understood a side of Dr Das I hadn't realised. He wasn't the man I thought he was. He was getting progressively worse - his aggression was getting worse."

Prana Das was attacked in his home in September 2012 and died last year

Mr Black rejected the suggestion he kept working for Dr Das for the money, saying: "he never paid me that much."

Responding to questions from Ben Summers, barrister for the families of three of the former residents, Mr Black said he thought it was Dr Das's fault he was giving evidence at an inquest into seven deaths and that he counted himself as "one of his victims".

The inquest is looking into the deaths of Stanley James, 89, June Hamer, 71, Stanley Bradford, 76, Edith Evans, 85, Evelyn Jones, 87, and William Hickman, 71.

A hearing into the death of a seventh resident, Matthew Higgins, 86, will be held following the conclusion of the other six.

The hearings are expected to last until the middle of this month.