THE FOLLOWING EXTRACTS ARE TAKEN DIRECTLY FROM THE WITNESS STATEMENTS OF THE BUPA SEVEN AND ARE JUST SOME OF THE MANY INCIDENTS OF ABUSE. PLEASE NOTE THAT THE VICTIMS ARE REFERRED TO BY INITIALS

“ In early 1999 I found R.S on the floor of her bedroom, she was a wonderful old lady, although she was very frail her spirit shone out of her face and she had a wonderful smile. She had fallen off the commode and hit her head on the corner of the bed, no Doctor was called and she died a few days later”

“ G.L was a resident, the staff did not like her because she would only let me or Renee dress her . They left her without food or water and physically and mentally abused her, the last few times I saw G.L she was filthy and neglected”

“ Maria Keenaghan would often come out of residents rooms with her clothes in a state of disarray and I would find residents whimpering in rooms she had just left”

“It was difficult to tell when Maria Keenahan was on duty as she was always there and never seemed to go out for months on end. She was always watching Television in the residents lounge and she would not allow the residents to watch what they wanted and if they walked in front of the T.V she would shout at them to sit down, this frightened them. When I questioned her about why she was always in the residents lounge she said that she suffered from depression and therefore could not sit in the staff room, at first I felt sorry for her”

“Maria Keenahan purchased her toiletries with the residents money, I remember her using E.Ps and M.Gs money for her own shopping, she would also take sweets that the residents families had brought them, she used to wear the residents cardigans, for example, she wore A.Bs when she was sitting watching T.V and got very angry when a team leader, Chris, told her off about it. She also took residents Newspapers who had them delivered, she told me that she had asked them if she could borrow them but it was obvious she had not as the residents would wander around looking for them, E.P in particular, Maria said they were confused”

“I was a key worker for three residents on unit 3, Maria said only I could care for them, I objected to this as it was normal for all staff to see to the daily care of residents and because I was not always there and worried about what would happen to them when I was away, when I arrived for a late shift I would find these residents in urine soaked beds or they would be up but unwashed and left in their rooms, they did not even have breakfast”

In the summer of 1998 when I was moved to unit 3, I was appalled at the state of the unit and the medication trolley. The M.A.R sheets ( Medication Administration Sheets ) were unreadable and had no record of the medication that was in the trolley or what was being given to the residents, there were controlled drugs which were not permitted in the trolley, the drugs in the trolley were out of date, some were missing, some had been signed for and not been given and their were other signs of neglect. Residents would be left sitting at the dinning table for hours on end instead of moved to a comfortable chair, bedclothes were not changed and were filthy, residents were unwashed with urine burns and sweat sores and lots of them were incontinent and had no pads”

“In August 1997 I went on holiday for two weeks, Maria Keenahan promised that my residents, E.F, G.L and D.H would be cared for. When I returned E.F was dead and G and D were filthy, sore and neglected, they had urine burns on their skin and had on clothes over urine soaked nighties. I questioned Maria about this, she blamed the other staff and said she had reported it to the office. She appeared to be outraged and I had no choice but to believe her so that I could continue to work with the residents, also while on this holiday another resident, R.C, died”

“In the autumn of 1997 I asked Maria Keenahan to call a doctor for I.W, on a Friday before I was due of shift for four days, I.Ws daughter in law had told me that she had suffered from severe Bronchitis all her life and a sign she was ill was she would be very quite, I had asked Maria to call a doctor because I sensed I.W was not right, Maria refused to do so, she said she would keep an eye on her and “ we should not waste the doctors time with old people who would die soon anyway “. When I returned to work on my next shift I discovered, I.W had died”

“J.F was one of the residents on unit 3, over the period of three years I saw bruises on J.Fs arms, J used to struggle because she was frightened and confused, it was possible to attend her gently, it was better if two carers attended to her, one to reassure her while the other washed her. I remember Maria Keenahan holding J.Fs arms with one hand whilst washing her with the other. In or about Nov/Dec 1997 I questioned Maria Keenaghan about this bruising, she blamed it on the night staff, after this Maria stopped all staff except her seeing to J.F, F.T, A.B and F.C, all of whom could not communicate because they suffered from dementia”

“In around March 1999, I was on my unit working a late shift when another carer, Lee Elkin, came and got me and told me D.H was still very sick, I said what do you mean still? And he said she had been in terrible pain with a bloated stomach for weeks. I told him there was no record of this in the on call officers book, neither was there any record of it in her care plan or M.A.R sheet. The doctors book had an entry in it for D.H to see the doctor, but Maria Keenaghan had written over the request not needed “

“When the G.P arrived I had just checked her medication and a label for Codanth and Lactolous bowel medication was on the M.A.R sheet but no Codanth could be found anywhere. The Lactolous was in the trolley but had never been signed for as given and the bottle had never been opened. The G.P said that D.Hs constipation was so severe it was right to the top of the bowel and the district nurse would have to come daily, D.H was admitted to hospital on 28th March 1999 and died a month later”

“Lee Elkin subsequently brought me the M.A.R sheet of D.H and her care plan and showed me where he had seen Maria Keenaghan add entries to indicate a higher level of care, these forms are very easy to falsify”

“One day around January 1999 I was administering medication on unit 3 at the request of the on call officer Amanda Chumley, I was dispensing the medication that was to be given to the residents by Jackie Walters, a care assistant on that unit, E.Ps medication sheet stated that she was to be given 10mls of Chlorpromazine three times a day, which I measured out, Jackie queried this and said it wasn’t the right amount and said , Maria always gave her more . I double checked the G.P instructions and told her 10mls was correct, Jackie said Maria gave her three times as much to keep her quite. I looked back at the M.A.R sheet and saw that the G.P instructions had been ignored and that for the last three weeks E.P had been given 90mls a day instead of the prescribed 30mls. This is a very strong sedative and E.P could hardly stand or stay awake. I told Jackie I was going to inform the on call officer, she became very agitated and said she did not want to do the medication with Maria any more because she was always making mistakes. She told me that a few weeks ago that Digoxin had been given to the wrong patient, Digoxin slows the heart and I asked whether a G.P had been called and was Maria always doing things like this, Jackie said no G.P had been called. I reported this to Amanda Chumley and she wrote it down and put it in an envelope addressed to Carole Jones ( Home Manager ) as she did not want Maria Green ( Deputy Manager and Maria Keenahans closest friend )to see it and punish her”

“A few days later the emergency bleep went off on unit 3 and I went down D was on the floor, Maria Keenaghan was with her and Maria said go back to your unit as D was alright and I replied I would help her get D off the floor first, Maria Keenaghan screamed at me get of my unit and do not come back, D was gripping my arm and would not let go and kept saying to me “ please don’t leave me with her “ I had to take her fingers off my arm and walk away. I will never forget the fear of Maria Keenaghan in her eyes and I will never forget or forgive myself that I had to walk away from a friend that needed my help as I feel I betrayed her trust by walking away”

“I reported the mis-use of medication to Carole Jones ( Home Manager ) also how residents were being screamed at up close to their faces by Maria Keenaghan, Nadeen Johnson and Jackie Walters, I also told her about how in February 1999 that I had been using the sluice room on unit 3 and had smelt something, I went to enter J.Fs bedroom and Jackie Walters and Nadeen Johnson had barred my way and I told them I was the on call officer and had the right to check all residents, I found J.F had a pressure sore big enough to put you fist into and which went through to the bone, no record of this was ever entered in the on call officer book”

“In or about 1998 I was working a late shift and D.H came onto my unit and I found her sitting in the lounge in the dark, when I turned the lights on she begged me to turn them off again and hide her from them two, I asked her what two? And she said them two little women they hurt me, just then Maria Keenaghan and Nadeen Johnson came up and said she has to come with us and they took her and D.H kept saying, them two, do not let them take me and I went into the bathroom and sobbed because I wanted to get all the residents off unit 3, bed them down on mattresses on my unit to keep them safe, I went and rang Carole Jones ( Home Manager ) at home and she came in and I begged her to do something now before any more residents died and she said she would very soon and I must be patient”

“Carole Jones came down later and asked to have a word in a residents empty bedroom and I went with her and she said I want you to know Maria Keenaghan is only being kept in the home as she, Carole, wanted to get the evidence to sack her, she said she wanted me to help her by not repeating anything and she asked me if I had told anyone else and I said I had not, she then said if she got Maria out on any excuse she would go to work somewhere else and abuse more residents and this way she would not be able to.
This seemed reasonable to me and I believed her and I was just so relieved to have her doing something to stop Maria by giving Carole time to collect evidence. This was such a relief as I thought Carole treated it as a joke when I told her what Maria was doing earlier when Maria had been present”

“I had to continue using the sluice room on unit 3 although I was working on unit 2 and A.Bs bedroom was opposite this, I kept asking Maria Keenaghan about A.B because I could hear her calling for help, A.B and some of the other residents were left in bed almost every day and were lying in urine soaked beds without food or drink for up to at least 17 hours, I knew this because I had seen what time they had gone to bed the night before, I was sure Carole Jones ( Home manager ) would take action”

“ Around December or January 1999, I saw R.H who had come onto my unit 2 and he said he was in terrible pain, when I checked his catheter bag I found it was so full of urine that the urine was going back up the tube and the weight was dragging on him causing him terrible pain.
This was the sixth time this had happened and I had reported all the incidents to Carole Jones ( Home Manager ) I changed his bag and then went upstairs to find Carole, she was in the conference room and she was writing on care plan sheets, she said she was busy as she had to alter the sheets as they did not reflect good care, she told me that AB had been removed from the home by her daughter and she was being sued for negligence as A.Bs daughter said she had told Carole Jones about the state of neglect her mother was in on many occasions and nothing was done about it, this was the first time I had heard this confirmed although there had been rumours. Carole Jones could see I was shocked and she said we have to stick together when there is trouble”.

“I kept having a nightmare that residents were being washed down a drain and I would be trying to get hold of their hands to save them, I would wake up screaming, my husband Steve kept asking me what was wrong but I just could not tell him as I knew he would tell me leave”

“In about September 1998 I saw Maria Keenaghan push F.C in the small of her back, into her bedroom shouting, you should have left your pad on now look at the mess”

“G.L J.S, DH and E.P were always calling to me to come back and help them. I could hear the screaming and it was very difficult for me”

“All the residents on unit 2 were sedated when I arrived as teamleader. Carole Jones knew that I took them off these drugs as I disagreed with this practice”

“Residents who were left in urine soaked beds without food and drink for up to eighteen or nineteen hours included, F.T, J.F, R.S A.B, D.H among others”

“On the Friday before we went to Social Services Registration on 15th of April 1999, Carole Jones ( Home Manager ) held a meeting on unit 3 in the back lounge at about 2pm, Carole held the meeting to tell the staff that she did not believe the gossip about Maria Keenaghan and she was backing her 100% and would help her become a good teamleader, when it got to be my turn to speak Carole excluded me, she did not want to hear my opinion because she knew what I would say, I did not understand why Carole thought my worries amounted to gossip”

“Lee Elkin came to me and said he was seeing terrible things happening to the residents on unit 3, I told him he must go to Carole Jones ( Home Manager) and tell her this, he said he had already reported this and so had the others and nothing was being done, I said what others? And he told me about the others including Renee Warwick, I could not believe I was hearing this”

“I told Carole Jones ( Home Manager ) there were things going on in unit 3 that should not be happening, she looked at me and said, I do not want to hear the word abuse in my Home”

“One day in the autumn of 1998 I heard Maria Keenaghan telling E.P you are a dirty bitch and that she smelled, E.P was not capable of defending herself”

“Maria Keenaghan made it quite clear she did not like E.P or R.H, R.H often wanders in the night and in the daytime he would fall asleep and when he woke up he would be stiff and needed assistance to get out of the chair, I recall this happening in September 98 but it happened a lot, I asked Maria Keenaghan to help me lift him out of his chair as he was too heavy for me but she said she thought he was a dirty old man and did not have any time for him, she said do not help him he is putting it on. I paid no attention to what she said and helped him out of his chair on my own”

“In November 1998, Sarah Conway ( Carer unit 3) was supposed to have toiletted A.B but she had not done so and A.B was saturated with urine, Maria Keenaghan said it was none of my business”

“One day in June or July 98 in the afternoon it was quite and I saw B.M facing me with her hand on the handrail a little way down the corridor, Sarah Conway was behind and did not see me, she pushed B.Ms left shoulder really hard, enough for her to loose her balance and grab the rail with both hands, Sarah said “ Get out of my way I hate you”

“Again I told Sarah that I would report her, I took B.M into the dinning room and sat her down because she was shaking, again I told Maria Keenaghan who said she would talk to Carol but I do not think she ever did”

“Around December 1998, Lee Elkin and Lizzy Martin would come from unit 3 and see me because Sarah Conway and Maria Keenaghan were still abusing the residents, I told them I could not do anything about it and had been told specifically it was none of my business, I went home feeling very depressed”

“ D was a resident on unit 3, Maria Keenaghan considered D a difficult resident, you needed to be patient with her, when I was working on unit 2, D many times came to find me and asked me where she could go where they couldn’t find her”

“ I regularly witnessed Sarah Conway washing residents faces with flannels which had faeces on them, this happened to R.S, R.H and BM”

“Maria Keenaghan would not let staff get A.B out of bed at a reasonable time, she was left in a urine soaked bed sometimes well into the afternoon with no fluids or care given to her, Maria claimed that she looked after A.B and no one else needed to. A.B would just repeat, I’m frightened, I’m frightened”

“ Carole Jones ( Home Manager) refused to take my concerns seriously and called them second hand gossip, I felt gutted because I thought there was no one else to tell”

“ I reported Sarah Conway Screeching and shouting at residents to Maria Keenaghan and Carole Jones over and over again starting in the spring of 1998 and continuing to November, Maria would say that Sarah had problems and she would have a word with her but she never did anything about it, Maria herself was physically and verbally abusing the residents”

“ I went to Carole Jones ( Home Manager) about Maria and Sarah on several occasions and five or six times that August, she told me that I had to get on with it and was very hostile towards me, this made me feel increasingly frustrated, after these occasions I would often go and sit in my car and cry. I felt so helpless and frustrated and I had no one to talk to about what was happening”

“ A couple of days later I was told by Maria Keenaghan that I no longer worked on unit 3 and that what happened there was nothing to do with me”

“ Sarah Conway spoke harshly to the residents and also swore at them on at least a dozen occasions I heard her in the middle of the lounge or dinning room shouting, You get on my nerves the fucking lot of you, this was typical of her behaviour what ever unit she was on, they would flinch and back away from her”

“ In February 1999, I went into the linen room on unit 2 and I heard Sarah Conway in B.Ms room on unit 3, I walked around the corner and saw Sarah Conway in the doorway, she said something like, Its your piss you lie in it, I confronted her and asked what was wrong she said, Shes soaked up to the eyeballs and I will have to wash her, she proberly did on this occasion but only because I had witnessed what had happened, there were several of these sorts of incidents during the time I was working on units 2 and 3”

“ I went to Carole Jones ( Home Manager) to complain about these problems, I demoted myself on 5th or 6th of November 1998, from a senior to a care assistant because I was so frustrated with the way things were going. I couldn’t stand the way Maria Keeenahan and Sarah Conway were treating the residents, Carole asked me if I was sure this is what I wanted”

“ I was sent to unit 2 where I remained until I resigned, I had gone to Carol Jones (Home Manager) at least 12 times to report aspects of the abuse I saw going on, approximately once every three to four weeks”

“ Sarah Conway often shouted at residents especially when they are incontinent, to B.M she said, Look at you have pissed yourself again, Sarah would humiliate incontinent residents by drawing attention to the fact they had wet themselves”

“ R.As daughter saw Sarah Conway just after Christmas 98, raise her fist to her mother, Sarah said she was only joking, the relatives said they did not want any trouble they were frightened about reprisals”

“ I heard Maria Keenaghan say to E.P, You’re a dirty bitch you smell, you stink, Maria noted in a book which she started around July/August that E.P was only to have a bath twice a week, E.P was very anxious about being told that she hadn’t washed as she liked a bath and would have had one every day”

“ Maria Keenaghan would not let E.P and her friend sit together, there was no reason for this except Marias dislike of E.P and JS on many occasions E.P would point at Maria and say that lady doesn’t like me and she shows it”

“ Around July 1998, I saw Sarah Conway sitting in the dinning room slapping A.B on the hand quite forcibly and saying to her go on hit me, I told her to get out now, she tried to explain herself, it was very clear to me what she was doing, Lee Elkin also witnessed this, I told Sarah she was not fit to be a carer and I would report her, she said she would speak to Carol, when I had a go at Sarah she would go running to Maria Green ( Deputy Manager and Keenahans best friend) I did report Sarah but after that I was spoken to in a very threatening way”

“ During July and August 98, I became increasingly worried about what was going on in unit 3, Maria Keenaghan made my working life unbearable because I stood up to her over the abuse I saw going on”

“ One day in Feb/March 1999 I was on unit 3 morning shift. I went into the dinning room to find J.P with her face in a bowel of Cornflakes. I went over to help her sit up straight. I wiped her face and then went up to Jackie Walters and Maria Keenaghan who were doing the medicines and who were fully aware of the situation, saying cant you see her face was in her breakfast? Jackie just said, That’s the way J.P always eats”

“ Part of our activity programme on unit 2 included a coffee morning and manicures, our unit was the only unit in the home to do activities, I would always go around the other units and asked if the residents would like to join in, often the care staff would make you feel unwelcome, particularly Maria Keenaghan, who was aggressive to me and said they did not want to come around and just leave them alone”

“ Even half an hour of laughter and fun would make such a big difference to residents who spend seven days a week, eight hours a day, just sitting in a chair”

“ I was working on unit 2 one day in February 1999, I came on duty and it was reported that I.Ms fluid intake was nil during the night, I went to check on I.M she was weak and dehydrated and had only had two spoonfuls of juice in 24 Hrs, I made my concerns known to Maria Green ( Deputy Manager) she did check I.M but only took two steps into the room, I kept trying to get I.M to drink and passed on my concerns to Eileen Chubb on the afternoon shift, she rang an ambulance immediately and the hospital later confirmed I.M was dehydrated”

“ A member of staff found a pot with pills in it, they were sleeping tablets, he found them on a shelf”

“ D.H was in a terrible state, she was screaming, Eileen looked at the medication sheets and found D.H had not been given her medication”

“ On one late shift just before she went into hospital I found D.H slumped in a chair, a blanket on her knees, I went to get her a drink, Nadeen Johnson ( Carer, unit3 ) told me not to interfere on the unit, I still used to visit D.H when I could, just before she went into hospital I visited her, she looked terrible I thought she was going to die”

“ I was very concerned about J.F and started working long days to protect her from Maria, Renee Warwick did the same”

“ I asked Maria why J.F was so thirsty, she said she had been given drinks but I did not believe as J.F as I would give three or four drinks at once she was so thirsty”

“ Once in Sept/Oct 1998, I asked Renee to come and see A.Bs pad which was black and heavy with urine, Sarah Conway said she had toiletted her five minutes earlier. I went to tell Maria Green about this, apparently then Sarah went running to the office crying, Maria Green ( Deputy Manager) phoned down and asked me to go to the office and tell her what was going on, I explained to her. Maria Green asked me why I had gone to Renee about it, because she has the biggest mouth, she said she would talk to Carol”

“ Sarah Conway had problems, I believe she had an eating disorder and the burn marks on her arms were possibly self inflicted”

“ Sarah Conway was a care assistant, I saw her push B.M one of the residents and I also saw her push A.B another resident, she used to stick her tongue out and stick her fingers up at the old lady”

“ I spoke to Carole Jones ( Home Manager) about Sarah Conway, she told me Sarah was going to be moved to unit ¼ but that I was not to tell anyone yet. I asked her what difference that would make to Sarah’s behaviour towards the residents, Carole said the residents on ¼ wouldn’t stand for it, I said that not all residents were able to defend themselves and none of them should be in this position, Sarah’s attitude to the residents did not improve and she was eventually suspended a few days after registration started their investigation”

“ J.F was one of unit 3 residents, there is a quite lounge at the back of the unit, the lounge was usually empty except for J.F she is unable to move herself and needs help with everything, she was left in the quite lounge all day, she was put on an everdry to protect the sofa. When I did a late shift on unit 3 I used to collect, I often found her saturated in urine, she gradually became more aggressive, I was not surprised about this given that she was isolated everyday and no one attended to her, Maria Keenaghan described J.F as disgusting, she is like a wild animal”

“ I found it very difficult to look into J.Fs eyes and not feel terrible sadness because she could not speak”

“ I took the step of joining the other applicants at Isard House and reported the abuse I had seen on a daily basis to Social Services, much of this was on unit 3 and was done by the teamleader, Maria Keenaghan, she either did this herself or accepted or encouraged the other staff in her team to do it”

“ I spoke to Carole Jones about Maria Keenaghan kicking B.M on the ankle, this happened in December 1998, I could not speak to Carole until the next day, although Carole assured me that Maria was disciplined, she never did anything about it, I said that Maria ought to be prosecuted as it was assault, I never received any further feedback on this matter, although I have since given a statement to the police about Maria kicking B.M and Sarah Conway assaulting her”

The extracts used are from the witness statements of The Applicants ( The BUPA Seven )
Eileen Chubb, Karen Hook, Renee Warwick, Lee Elkin, Lizzy Martin, Maggie Roffy, Linda Clark