Undercover filming shows Alzheimer's sufferer being repeatedly beaten

 

Thomas Pascoe
Monday 23 April 2012 04:06 EDT
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Footage of an Alzheimer's sufferer being repeatedly beaten by a member of staff at a care home will be screened tonight.

The clips claim to show an elderly resident being manhandled by carers at Ash Court Care Centre in Kentish Town, London last year.

The footage, which will be aired on BBC's Panorama, was caught after Maria Worroll's daughter Jane hid a camera in her room.

Jonathan Aquino, 30, was jailed earlier this month for the assault on Mrs Worroll. The Filipino was sentenced to 18 months in jail at Blackfriars Crown Court.

Four of Aquino's female colleagues have since been sacked by the operators of the home, Forest Healthcare, after it reviewed the footage, the documentary says.

This is the first time the footage will be aired.

Despite suffering from acute arthritis, Mrs Worroll, 80, was said to be manhandled by her carers and on occasion put to bed at only 5.30pm.

On other occasions carers would not greet Mrs Worroll but instead turn on a television to watch while they were in her room, it is claimed.

The documentary also says that one evening's footage, filmed in June 2011, shows a male carer striking Mrs Worroll six times on the face, arms and abdomen.

Mrs Worroll was subsequently transferred to a different home.

The Care Quality Commission, the industry watchdog, awarded the care home an 'excellent' rating in July 2009, two years before the attacks.

A subsequent report, produced four months after the incidents, also failed to mention that charges were pending over the incidents, it is claimed.

Judy Downey, head of charity The Relatives & Residents Association, said: "It doesn't say that a member of staff has been charged. It is not an honest document, it isn't a helpful document and it isn't a decent document.

"This is an area where the CQC can do so much if it uses its powers. They can actually cancel the provider's registration if they're shown not to be fit. We would suggest that the provider was very clearly shown not to be fit."

PA

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