Threatening letter?

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TinaTapas
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Threatening letter?

Postby TinaTapas » Sun Sep 13, 2015 4:00 pm

This is not Spanish but UK/European law and I would appreciate your opinion even if you're not legally qualified

Without going into too much detail, an elderly relative has received appalling care at a residential care home.

This "care" home is refusing to release care plans/any documentation about her care, despite our relative having given audio/video and now written consent for us to see this documentation.
The written consent was witnessed by a senior ward sister at the hospital where my relative is currently recovering from the latest unexplained and unwitnessed injury she's received at the care home.

My question is this: can I subtly put pressure on by hinting that events will be made public?

Something along these lines:

Unless I I hear from you by 31st September, I will assume that you do not intend to reply and I will then have no alternative but to take further action.
This may well have a negative effect on the care home/your business


Can this be called intimidating or threatening?
Or am I worrying too much and perhaps I should be far more direct - if you don't release the documentation then I will make everything public and can prove it via the email history



Any suggestions as to an equally effective sentence that have the desired results - the release of the documentation

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costakid
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Re: Threatening letter?

Postby costakid » Sun Sep 13, 2015 4:13 pm

Its not a threat, its a warning. With the internet and sites like trip advisor you can ruin someones business anonymously. I can’t see you are doing anything wrong.

(Not saying use trip advisor in this case.)

TinaTapas
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Re: Threatening letter?

Postby TinaTapas » Sun Sep 13, 2015 4:22 pm

Thanks

Of course what I really want to say is that I will make available all correspondence to local and national press unless they release the documentation

Just concerned that they will have a solicitor accuse me of extortion/threatening behaviour and get an injunction on my "proof"

I am discovering to my cost that the law in the UK seems more intent on protecting the wrong-doer than the victim

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Re: Threatening letter?

Postby gerryh » Sun Sep 13, 2015 4:44 pm

I suggest you consult a local, to the care home, Citizens Advice Bureau in the UK as this appears to be a question regarding UK law. They might already have "knowledge" of this particular care home.
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Re: Threatening letter?

Postby BENIDORM » Sun Sep 13, 2015 4:54 pm

May I suggest that you go directly for advice from your Local Government Ombudsman, your local contact details should be online or contact the local Town Hall for advice and contact details.

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Re: Threatening letter?

Postby katy » Sun Sep 13, 2015 5:01 pm

Don't you think it would be better to go to a Citizens Advice Bureau than asking on a Spanish forum :crazy:

TinaTapas
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Re: Threatening letter?

Postby TinaTapas » Sun Sep 13, 2015 5:13 pm

Yes Katy - but I do value many posters opinions on here and it doesn't hurt to get feedback

I would like to stop the care home in its tracks and make them comply without having to complain to ombudsman but of course this may become necessary

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Re: Threatening letter?

Postby BENIDORM » Sun Sep 13, 2015 5:45 pm

Tina,
I was suggesting that you go to the Ombudsman for advice, that is before you make any complaints
they will be able to guide you properly, you can also ask Age Concern.
I had a problem with a relative in a care home and followed the advice that I've given you, and it worked.
Citizens Advice are good, but are very busy dealing with migrant issues. :lol:
Regards,
Gordon

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Re: Threatening letter?

Postby katy » Sun Sep 13, 2015 9:36 pm

Actually Google is your friend( surprised no one has mentioned it :?) There are procedures laid down.. Lots of stuff there. Here is the first.

http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/ ... -care-home

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chrissiehope
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Re: Threatening letter?

Postby chrissiehope » Sun Sep 13, 2015 10:55 pm

Our local council has a department (I think its Adult Soc Serv) that deals with care homes and individuals in them. The other one you could try is the Care Quality Commission (CQC) who regularly inspect care homes and their reports (including comments from patients) are largely available to the public on the internet.

I'm assuming you don't have a Power of Attorney (Health & Welfare) for her ?

Good luck - I'm afraid it will probably be very frustrating...
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Re: Threatening letter?

Postby wollie » Mon Sep 14, 2015 12:09 am

you may have already done this but...
The first thing you need to do is request in writing the info you require in regard to whatever it is you are unhappy about, when doing this it is likely you will need to have the back up info you said you already have. If this place is ran using government funding it is likely to be able to get using freedom of info request....
If you do go to ombudsman's office this will have to be done before your complaint will be looked at...

good luck

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Re: Threatening letter?

Postby ashtondav » Mon Sep 14, 2015 9:18 am

Contact the police and tell the home you have done so.

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Re: Threatening letter?

Postby TinaTapas » Fri Jan 27, 2017 5:46 pm

Please ensure that you and your loved ones safeguard yourselves from becoming a source of income for the UK government

An update - for anyone who has elderly relatives, or who is approaching an age where they may have no option but to consider residential care

Firstly and most importantly my elderly relative began to improve immediately and regain weight on leaving the care home - which tells you all you need to know.
We had to fight tooth and nail to get them released from this "care" home and we were accused of not having their "best interests" at heart.
According to social services, our relative's health would suffer further if she moved to another care home
In fact the only reason we succeeded was because our relative broke their hip (another unwitnessed accident)
Once in hospital, they began to improve mentally and physically, as well as gaining weight - despite being in some discomfort and eating hospital food!
We were then able to get our relative's written consent to act on their behalf (and have it witnessed by a senior grade nurse, who was satisfied that consent was given without coercion and that our relative had full mental capacity)

It was at this point that the care home manager and social services stopped trying to prevent us from leaving the care home
They realised that they had no explanation for the dramatic improvement and that they would have a hard time explaining the inevitable decline that would occur if our relative left hospital and returned to the care home

Our relative would have died in 2015 if we had not opposed the care home and social services.
The cause of death would no doubt have been put down to "old age" and unavoidable deterioration
In reality our relative was suffering repeated and unwitnessed falls (it was only when we repeatedly asked about hazards in their room that the manager of the care home decided to assess the room)

I should add that this care home was receiving £950 per week - paid for by our relative
They also received a "top up" from the local authority - as a result of the unexplained accidents and falls, our relative needed "extra care" (there was never any evidence of this extra care, but the care home got the money regardless)

We don't know if these "falls" were all genuine as 3 ex members of staff confirmed that they'd blown the whistle on physical abuse by several workers, but that both the care home and CQC had completely ignored them
Apparently if a care home has had a "Good" report in the last 12-18 months, then CQC relies on what the manager of the care home and social services say. This is taken as gospel and relatives of the resident are regarded as "difficult" if they disagree with their version of events.
Any email documentation or recorded conversations that are detrimental to these parties are ignored by CQC
In reality CQC doesn't have the resources to investigate anything but the most glaring abuse
They also have staffing problems of their own
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/ ... -jobs.html


The other most likely cause of death would have been of malnutrition.
Our relative lost over 20 pounds in 2 months, yet the care home only tried to give them a nutritional supplement on one occasion.
The Unit Manager said that she'd tried a chocolate flavoured supplement "a few weeks ago" (in reality 2 months) but that our relative didn't like the flavour
When we asked if any other flavours or brands of supplement were available (if not we'd bring them in to the care home) we were told "yes, we have lots of other flavours, I will put your suggestion into practice tomorrow"
Yet no effort to offer alternative flavours/products had been made for over 2 months - despite our relative (already underweight) steadily getting thinner and weaker. Their BMI was under 16 at that point
Should we have to point something like this out a a registered nurse?

A warning to anyone who has the misfortune to find themselves entangled with SS and the Court of Protection: Don't be naive (as we were) and believe that these people are honest or competent.
There are no doubt some "good ones", who genuinely attempt to help older adults
Unfortunately social services is now a business (Google Social services and selling children)
They are there in order to make money, end of.

Rant over.

The upshot is that I urge anyone who has an elderly relative or is themselves approaching old age, to arrange a POA, making sure that you trust your chosen representative 100%.
If you do not do this, any other written evidence of your wishes, even if it's been witnessed by a solicitor or your bank etc. will very likely be disregarded by the Court of Protection.

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Re: Threatening letter?

Postby wollie » Fri Jan 27, 2017 8:55 pm

Freedom of information is the way to go and send copy of your request to any government agency who are funding.
If you want to be subtly just delay the posting of the copies until the other people have a few days to respond to your
FOI request but don't tell them this.

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chrissiehope
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Re: Threatening letter?

Postby chrissiehope » Fri Jan 27, 2017 11:58 pm

I would second getting a Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) - there are two - one covers Health & Welfare, the other Finance & Property. Both my parents had them & my sister & I were Attorneys. This came in handy when we wanted to move Mum from one care home to another - I was told by Social Services that they didn't consider it in her best interests, and I told them I didn't agree - " Oh " came the reply in a sarcastic tone "do you have a Power of Attorney then ?". When I replied yes, it suddenly went quiet & I had no more problems......

Knowing how useful they can be, I have already made my son & daughter my Attorneys ;-)
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Re: Threatening letter?

Postby maureenscot » Sat Jan 28, 2017 1:33 pm

Yes I agree, POA is the only thing which overides Social Services. Also complaints to the Care Commision must be followed up. It is a lesson that folk learn too late as they believe that that they have power over their own lives when they do not.

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Re: Threatening letter?

Postby TinaTapas » Sat Jan 28, 2017 7:43 pm

chrissiehope wrote:I would second getting a Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) - there are two - one covers Health & Welfare, the other Finance & Property. Both my parents had them & my sister & I were Attorneys. This came in handy when we wanted to move Mum from one care home to another - I was told by Social Services that they didn't consider it in her best interests, and I told them I didn't agree - " Oh " came the reply in a sarcastic tone "do you have a Power of Attorney then ?". When I replied yes, it suddenly went quiet & I had no more problems......

Knowing how useful they can be, I have already made my son & daughter my Attorneys ;-)
Good for you - I just wished we'd done this before it became necessary - now we have a financial deputy who is involved and who is in league with the previous care home
She has repeatedly lied on their behalf and refuses to provide details of a "debt" of almost £10,000 - which we weren't notified of in over 18 months before her involvement...
She also refuses to provide the original inventory (completed by a relative) as she says she requires a "good reason"
We've explained that the inventory will give concrete proof of exactly what went "missing" - this includes new clothes/shoes/bedding/toiletries/several pairs of glasses/jewellery etc.

The deputy then refused to provide the inventory, saying that she's going to draw a line under this as our relative is no longer at the care home!

I should add that this deputy also told us that relatives weren't permitted to be financial deputies - we believed her and only discovered this was completely untrue after she'd obtained deputyship

This person is incompetent and the OPG have said that they are now supervising her more closely - at our relative's expense
We are so distrustful of the system that we believe our application to cancel this deputyship will be rejected by the COP - even though it's clear from documentation that we were manipulated and misinformed and that the deputy was even party to a falsified COP3 assessment - despite being fully aware of the correct diagnosis.

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Re: Threatening letter?

Postby linajeff » Mon Feb 06, 2017 12:36 pm

maureenscot wrote:Yes I agree, POA is the only thing which overides Social Services. Also complaints to the Care Commision must be followed up. It is a lesson that folk learn too late as they believe that that they have power over their own lives when they do not.
I couldn't agree more with you i believe the same too, that nobody has the power to their own lives, this is in no way possible in my opinion.
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patricia
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Re: Threatening letter?

Postby patricia » Fri Feb 17, 2017 5:25 pm

You need to make a complaint to the http://www.cqc.org.uk you could give them a call and ask them about your complaint. They are the Quality Control Commission. They will give you a number and when you write to them you should quote that number in the letter.

I see that you have got your relative out, but you should still make a complaint about that home to the above people to save others from going through the same experience.
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