Mrs Figg being removed from her daughter's home by social care services
It was Channel 4 news which brought this shameful and disturbing story to my attention. Betty Figg is 86 years old and has dementia. Last June social services advised her daughter that her mother should go into a home and Mrs Figg was moved to Butts Croft House, Corley, Warwickshire in August, with the £2,000 a month fees being paid by the family. In October Mrs Figg fell out of bed and was starting to lose wight so her daughter decided to give up her pottery business to care for her at home. A downstairs bedroom was created, an ensuite bathroom, wheelchair ramps were installed and a special bed delivered with sensors in the mattress so an alarm would wake them if the old lady got up in the night.
But a council occupational health specialist ruled the three-bedroomed semi-detached home was still not suitable for Mrs Figg and after a hospital stay she was returned to Butts Croft House. Her mother had expressed her unhappiness at being there and Miss Figg (daughter) was not pleased with the standard of care so, last Saturday as usual she took her mother from the home but decided not to return her. Prior to this she had contacted the police to ask their advice and she was told it was a civil matter and of no concern to them. Within two days Mrs Figg was responding much better in her family environment.
However, Coventry City Council obtained an 'emergency warrant' under the Mental Health Act on the grounds that a 'person believed to be suffering from a mental disorder is being ill treated and neglected' and two days later the old lady was snatched back by social services. A distraught Mrs Figg was wheeled to a car with a blanket over her head after police, who had been called in as back-up, threatened to smash the door with a battering ram if the family did not hand her over. "Mum was escorted out of my house in her wheelchair and had a towel thrown over her head as though she was some kind of prisoner," said Miss Figg.
The photograph, which was taken by a neighbour on their mobile phone, speaks a thousand words. What is this country coming to when a person is seized from their loving family because some official thinks the family aren't capable of caring for her? Why did the police get involved when they said they would not?
This whole incident upsets me. I've been in receipt of the state pension for a couple of years and I know, as I age, that it's true we lose certain abilities but I would hate to think I will lose my dignity. This shows that others nowadays have a licence to remove it and that scares me. It should be my choice where I live and should I be unfortunate like Mrs Figg, then I trust my family to make the right choices. My family should be helped to care for me.
My experience of social care for the elderly is not good, they were less than helpful in the last few months of my mother's life but I was fortunate insofar as I had friends who provided excellent advice. I'll be sending a copy of this post to my own family to make them fully aware of their lack of power in such a situation. Coventry City Council should take a long, hard look at their conduct and never again allow anyone to suffer such indignity.
Source Daily Mail
Posts
24 comments:
Sounds like somebody was missing their £2,000 a month to me.
Such a disturbing story.
That did cross my mind Admiral. Very disturbing indeed and it shows we do live in a police state right enough. Freedom? Most of it is lost here now.
This story was in the Daily Telegraph too. It's appaling that the heavy hand of the law should be used in a case like this.
Unfortunately, it's unlikely that money was the motivation - there are plenty of old folks out there these days who are forced to pay £2k a month to live in these care homes.
I wonder if there might be another dimension to this story that has not come to light?
I wondered that when I was writing it Ted but you would have thought the council would have worded a defence appropriately. Mind you does it matter if there was? It's the manner of the removal of the lady that upset me more than anything.
This is what we have come to, live with it.
My M & S poly bag and a bottle of decent malt doesn't seem such a bad idea now.
This is disgusting. I hope I have the strength and mental capacity to stumble off into the sunset before bastards like these get their claws into me.
How long before we have euthanasia vans going round picking up the elderly and infirm from their family homes?
Bastards!
Aye scunnert, as Ted says there may be a good reason for her not to be with her family but to remove her in this manner is absolutely intolerable.
The way things are going here you may not be too far off the mark. Of course the vans will be marked "Elderly Care Services" and have lovely comfy cushions on the seats. Possibly the last time they'll sit on a decent seat too.
subrosa,
I suspect that there is more to this story than has been reported so far but from what we know it seems an absolute and disgrace.
I intend to get the matter raised at Holyrood but I think, for the sake of the elderly everywhere, we should all e-mail our MSP/MPs and ask for assurances that actions of this nature, sanctioned by the police, would not happen in Scotland.
Sub R
Why would you use a M & S polybag?
The malt would probably leak out and the mouth of the bag would be too big to fit into, even your, big gum!
However............?
Bisous
Subrosa,
I read both these articles and to be honest I feel her Human Rights are being breached there must be a way the family can fight for her to be cared for at home.
I have a great great great aunt who is in a nursing home in the Broch. She is well cared for as the community know her and the wider family, which probably makes a huge difference compared to Coventry.
It's a sad and evocative situation.
I hope nobody has to suffer but invariably they will.
CD
Society in general doesn't respect the elderly and infirm...Governments are unwilling to spend the money needed to fund proper care. People don't want to pay the amount tax required for a decent system of care.
The sensible course of action is stay healthy as long as you can. and then go to being dead asap and miss out The dementia bit.
Yes Brownlie, I do suspect there is more to this than has been reported in the media, but my point is the way the lady was removed is just horrific. Imagine sticking a blanket over her head too just because the neighbour was taking a photo. That's what is upsetting.
Great idea Brownlie. I'll email mine today and hope others do too.
FC the poly bag is for AFTER the malt. Popped over the heid like a broon paper ain it should do the trick :)
Now that could well be CD, I didn't think about it from that angle. I was thinking why would they insist she goes back to a home - particularly when it has had a change of ownership and no new grading as yet.
Aye Niko you're right. Our society hasn't respected the elderly for many years and no generation has encouraged it.
I'm sure we all wish we could go from healthy to dead within 5 minutes.
If I am ever a vulnerable person, like this lady obviously is, I hope that an agency will step in and take care of my best interests, as the many agencies that are obviously involved in this case have. If everything in the garden was rosy for this lady, I don't think the council would have wasted their valuable time and resources taking such extreme measures. Read between the lines with newspaper articles.
Thanks for your comment cabbage. If you'd read my own comments you will see I have said there possibly is a lot more to this case than has been made public. The council concerned though haven't handled the PR at all well.
The point of the post is the manner in which the lady was removed. To have a blanket thrown over her when he has dementia must have been horrific. Obviously I have no idea the extent of her dementia but the photo is every elderly person's nightmare. Surely, if the lady had to be removed, the agencies you say you would rely on could have used some sensitivity.
Do hope the agencies don't let you down should you ever need their help.
As other posters suggest, there may be more to this than we yet know. For a start, I'm surprised that the head of social services appeared on TV to comment - that suggests he believes he has a defence - normal practice is to be 'unavailable for comment' following a cock-up.
However, I had my own bitter experience of social workers a few years ago. Every time I see a story like this - or the death of a child - I am horrified but unsurprised. I can't understand why ordinary people can see that something is dreadfully, dreadfully wrong, but a professional social worker can't.
How are these people selected and how are they trained? Something is systemically wrong and we need to find out what. I have heard all the apologetics - spending cuts, understaffing, impossible case-loads. While all these things will impair the performance of social workers, it can't turn them into morons - and yet morons is what we find. Que pasa?
Vronsky I didn't hear the head of social services on tv last night.
As I've already said my concerns are with the handling of this incident as I realise there may be more to the story. My post concerns the lady's removal which was handled appallingly.
The days of any care being a necessity within our care services (and I include the NHS in those) are gone. It's far more important those in such sectors have university qualifications, lots of bits of paper to say how wonderful they are.
Fifty years ago people were employed for their understand of care and their abilities to dispense it.
Don't ask me why they become morons, but I will say I think many are morons before they get the job.
I was with someone in the AE department waiting treatment.
an elderly man with two walking sticks asked the nurse were the toilets were.
She pointed to the toilets and said over there. he asked if she would help to go to the toilet as he was unable to manage on his own.
she said no she wouldn't help he would have to mange on his own.
and walked away.
the old boy got into the toilet and then after a while came out he was a bit messy with pee and said to us and the nurse. I am afraid the toilet area may need cleaning
the nurse looked at him and then us and said with real venom in her voice...Animal..and walked off
we did suggest to the old boy we would make a complaint he just wanted to forget the incident....
he did not want to make a fuss
to this day I regret not making a formal complaint...this occurred about 18 months ago.
My retired nursing friend hears stories like this every week Niko. She's ashamed at the quality of many of the 'modern' nurses.
Niko,
I think that's the trouble, Niko, that nobody wants to "make a fuss" but if we don't then we will have to put up with the kind of behaviour you refer to in your post.
You probably do know that your MP/MSPs are obliged to answer any complaints you make and we've all, on this site, got a voice and access to e-mails and we should bring matters of that nature to their attention and to the attention of the appropriate Minister. We can then keep pressing them until we get a satisfactory answer. We have more power than most people are aware of to influence matters of this nature.
But you're right Brownlie, we're brainwashed into believing we'll be labelled as trouble makers if we make any complaint.
It's that we have to break. Thankfully many political bloggers do use their representatives. What are they paid for? Looking after their electorate and that's us.
Post a Comment