This is why all care workers have to be psychologically tested for sociopathic behavior each six month. This behavior happens at VCH as well. A few weeks ago two social workers were mocking me and laughing at me, and I am not even a patient. Why.
Bupa care home staff tormented dementia victims and recorded their 'despicable' acts on their mobile phones
DailyMail on Line
By Chris BrookeThey were elderly, suffering from advanced Alzheimer’s Disease and needed the best possible care at their Bupa nursing home.
Instead the frail residents were bullied, assaulted and terrorised by care workers who recorded their ‘despicable’ behaviour on their mobile phones for fun.
Yesterday the ‘appalling’ video footage of a vulnerable 99-year-old woman and a man of 86 being mistreated by their three carers led to the carers being jailed.
'Despicable acts': Care worker Tanzeela Safdar,
left, received the longest sentence of 21 months in jail, while Paul
Poole collapsed in the dock during sentencing
The elderly man, Kenneth Costigan, has an expression of ‘stark terror’ on his face, and is shown ‘cowering’ and burying his head in his hands in ‘utter despair’.
Courtroom drama: Jolene Hullah received 18 months in jail, while Paul Poole collapsed in the dock during sentencing
Recorder Richard Mansell, QC, was clearly outraged by the defendants’ actions, which he described as ‘inhuman and degrading’.
The judge said supervisor Paul Poole, 26, and assistant care workers Jolene Hullah, 21, and Tanzeela Safdar, 23, had committed a ‘gross breach of trust’.
Earlier, when it was suggested that Hullah, who was 19 at the time, had not received adequate training, the judge was barely able to conceal his fury commenting: ‘You don’t need training in ordinary human decency.
‘This is a feature that unfortunately seems to be part of general life. The first instinct of people when they do something wrong is to start casting blame elsewhere. This is about taking responsibility for your actions.’
Referring to the victims, the judge said: ‘Although they were elderly and very ill they still had their dignity.
‘Your job was to provide them with a dignified level of care in the last years of their lives. With these despicable acts of abuse you stripped Mr Costigan and Mrs Askham of their dignity for your own amusement and gratification.
‘Of those who sat in court today and watched the video footage from your mobile phones, nobody could have failed to be appalled by your sick conduct.’
The defendants, all from Bradford, each admitted two offences of ill treatment of persons lacking mental capacity. The new offence, carrying a maximum five-year jail term, was created by the 2005 Mental Capacity Act.
Recorder Mansell ignored pleas to spare the defendants from jail. Hullah was sent to prison for 18 months, while Safdar, who was described as the ‘most culpable’, was jailed for 21 months.
Poole, who fainted in the dock, was given 12 months. All will be released after serving half their sentence.
The victims were ‘particularly vulnerable to abuse’ as they were ‘unlikely to complain’ and had poor short-term memories.
Not to blame: the judge stressed that the owners of the Dales Care Home in Bradford were in no way responsible for the abuse
Officers were informed after a cousin of Hullah saw the phone clip and went to the nursing home management.
Hullah is believed to have been trying to dispose of the phone when a police officer arrested her.
Hullah is seen pushing the phone into his face, imitating and teasing him and on another occasion assaulting him.
Mr Sharp said Mr Costigan’s dementia ‘causes him to swear’ and the carers found it funny to provoke his foul-mouthed outbursts.
They put a phone in his mouth and later as he becomes ‘upset and agitated’ Hullah screams at him and ‘pulls at his right thumb in a way that will have induced considerable pain’.
Safdar then ‘tries to grab his nose’ and ‘pushes both her hands into his mouth.’ As a result, Mr Costigan ‘holds his head in his hands and is plainly distressed’, said Mr Sharp.
Poole, the key worker designated with responsibility for his care, watched and failed to intervene.
Another video shows Safdar and another woman mistreating Edith Askham, who suffered from advanced dementia and was incontinent and ‘incoherent’. She is shown sitting on the floor away from her wheelchair and ‘holding out her arms for help’.
Mr Sharp said the carers did nothing to help her, ‘thrust the phone into her face’ and recorded her indignity. The other woman, Hannah Parveen, is believed to have fled to Pakistan.
Hullah later claimed she had just been ‘messing about’ and Safdar said she was just ‘playing around’. Poole claimed he said nothing because he was afraid of retribution from Hullah.
The judge made a point of stressing that the care home owners and management were in no way to blame for what happened.
