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Multiple sclerosis sufferer Janet Montier back in her own home with her sister Jacqui Hunt |
‘I’m sorry, but another apology for MS sufferer Janet just isn’t good enough’
Sister slams care of woman neglected in home, hurt in hospital and left to fend for herself
AFTER five years in a care home which had to be closed amid allegations of abuse and a stay in the Royal Free Hospital that ended when the ceiling fell in on her, Multiple Sclerosis sufferer Janet Montier hoped for peace in her adapted West Hampstead flat.
But the medical authorities have been forced to apologise to her again after staff shortages meant the bed-bound 51-year-old was left without a care manager for more than a year despite her family raising concerns.
After a Camden Primary Care Trust (PCT) manager acknowledged last week Janet’s treatment had been “unacceptable”, her sister and appointee Jacqui Hunt said her plight reflected that of many people whose care is split, sometimes acrimoniously, between social services and the NHS.
Jacqui said: “There are so many people out there being treated appallingly by the system. We are going to end up with large-scale institutions, like Victorian workhouses, because the general public simply do not understand how the elderly and the vulnerable are being treated.”
Janet has secondary progressive MS, a particularly violent form of the disease that attacks the nervous system.
Although she began to experience symptoms as a 30-year-old mother of two, working as a medical secretary in a South End Green GP’s practice, her family believe her disease accelerated during her traumatic stays in care which began 12 years ago at the now-defunct Minster Road assisted living home.
Camden’s social services unconditionally apologised to Janet for conditions at the home, where she suffered cigarette burns to her legs and further neglect which is the subject of a High Court case.
She now requires constant care and has difficulty speaking.
Janet’s brief stay at the Royal Free in 2007 ended when Jacqui, a chemotherapy nurse at Imperial College, demanded she be discharged after metal panelling from the ceiling ended up collapsing on her bed – an incident that prompted another apology.
Discharged to her flat in Hatstone Court, Finchley Road, Janet’s care was transferred from Camden social services to Camden PCT, and the two authorities jointly commissioned agency carers from a private firm.
But complaints from Jacqui that the agency carers were inconsistent and inadequately trained fell on deaf ears.
As the PCT’s director of services acknowledged last week in documents seen by the New Journal, this was because staff at the PCT were absent on sick leave and could not be replaced because of the “difficulty in recruiting to these specialised posts”.
Jacqui said: “Another apology is just not good enough. This is a failure in duty of care.
“The authorities have a duty to make sure that she is not being harmed – but she is constantly being harmed. Janet has us [her family] to speak for her. What about those who don’t?”
Yesterday (Wednesday), a Camden PCT spokeswoman said: “The PCT is unable to comment on some of the specific details of this case. Whilst the PCT acknowledges that there have been delays in undertaking a review of Mrs Montier’s care, Mrs Montier has continued to receive a constant level of day-to-day personal care to meet her needs.
“The PCT cannot comment on services provided by other organisations.” |
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Your comments:
If traders have been warned about the consequences and still ignored them in this way they should be named and shamed. It's disgraceful.
Georgina Parry
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