Former patient tried to kill herself twice amid care home hell
A CARE home damned by health watchdogs has been described as “pure hell and lacking hope” by one former patient.
The 18-year-old has told the Birmingham Post she twice attempted to take her own life while at Vestige Healthcare (Dudley Port) in Tipton.
On one occasion, police came to the rescue as she attempted suicide on rail tracks.
The former patient has spoken of her ordeal after the Care Quality Commission branded the home – for those, aged 16 to 65, with learning difficulties, mental health issues and addictions – inadequate in all areas. Its report was published in February.
The withering document stated: “People were being physically restricted without the correct legal authorisation.”
It added: “People said they did not want to live at the home.
“People had no choice in what they ate. People’s nutritional needs were not considered.
“People did not receive dignified or respectful care. People did not receive person centred care,” CQC inspectors found.
The assessment is spot on, said the Walsall teenager who was admitted to Vestige Healthcare last August with mental health problems.
She remained at the establishment for six months and described a climate of fear and violence from older patients.
During that time she says she was sexually harassed by a patient in his 40s and witnessed ineffective management of Covid restrictions.
In one alleged incident, she claims an older, male patient ripped off her T-shirt and tied it as a ligature around both their necks. A kitchen knife was used by a staff member to free her.
She claims one staff member warned she would go to hell if she
killed herself.
She said: “So many of us suffered. It was like the most extraordinary pain, both mentally and physically, that I have ever been through. It left me scarred, I still have nightmares.
“There was so much inappropriateness. I spent my time in fear of being harassed by the older people.
“People like me were put into that place with addicts.
“I was so bad, so poorly, I didn’t think I’d be able to properly live again. In there, I stopped living – and others were lifeless, too. Every day was misery.
“The anger was building, the hatred was building-up.
“There was little care in there, no empathy. It was more like a prison, it was hell. One day I left and headed down a steep hill towards a rail track. The police were following me and caught me in time.”
In the other suicide attempt, the then 17-year-old slashed her arm.
The CQC report makes grim reading. The home received an “inadequate” rating in all five key areas: Is the service safe? Is the service effective? Is the service caring? Is the service responsive? Is the service wellled?
It identified breaches in safe care, governance, safeguarding, consent, dignity and “person-centred” care.
During the six-strong team’s four day visit, one patient confided: “I’m scared to be here, I don’t want to be here, I don’t feel safe.”
The report revealed: “There were people living at the home who had been identified as posing a significant risk of harm to themselves. Incident forms showed people had attempted to or succeeded in harming themselves.
“There was a lack of risk assessment and care plans in place for these known risks which placed people at immediate risk of harm.”
Vestige Heathcare (Dudley Port) – placed in special measures by the CQC – was given six months to significantly improve.
If it failed to do so, the CQC warned: “We will begin the process of preventing the provider from operating this service.”
Vestige Healthcare was unavailable for comment.