Paul Lewis died in August 2021 after a fire swept through his home in ­Hanley Gardens, Stroud Green. A coroner’s inquest has heard so far that Snowball’s carer left early on the day of the blaze

THE manager of a care agency at the centre of a coroner’s investigation into the death man whose bed caught alight says it was a one-off accident.

Snowball Care, one of the private contractors used by Islington Council, has just been awarded a “good” rating by inspectors from the Care Quality Commission.

Its manager, Sayeda Ahmed, said the watchdog’s findings were pleasing but the death of Paul Lewis was always on staff’s minds.

She said: “Paul died once, but since then I think we’ve died like again and again and again and again. It’s been such a trauma, such a really sad situation.

“I mean, I feel really bad. I feel every time I think about the situation – I just can’t believe that’s happened.”

A coroner is investigating the sequence of events which led to Mr Lewis’s death in August 2021.

An inquest at St Pancras Coroner’s Court earlier this year heard that Mr Lewis’s carer would leave lit candles on his bed in order to assist him to light cannabis cigarettes to ease his physical pain, using a rolled up piece of paper.

On the day he died, when flames engulfed his bed, his carer had left him alone at his home in Hanley Gardens, Stroud Green, without informing the Snowball office.

Mr Lewis, 47, had multiple sclerosis and was “completely immobile” according to his family, although he did not have 24-hour care. The inquest is due to resume next month.

“We’ve been in business for like over 10 years so, this is one case [where an] accident happened, and we’re extremely sorry about that,” said Ms Ahmed, who worked as a social worker for 28 years – including in Islington – before setting up Snowball.

She said she was “really happy” after Snowball saw its rating from the CQC rise from a grading of “requires improvement” handed down in 2020.

She said the agency often took on Islington’s “most difficult” clients who have left every other care firm.

Ms Ahmed said that Islington had attempted to cut its contract after Mr Lewis’s death but gave up on the idea after its clients refused to be moved to a different agency.

She added: “It’s one of the most difficult industries to be in and it’s one of the most unrecognised industries to be in.

“People don’t realise what a homecare agency has to go through to provide. It’s an unthanked job.”
She said staff now had to log in online when they start and end a shift at a client’s home, which is monitored centrally at the Snowball office.

The CQC report said carers provided “good quality care and support” and knew “how to protect people from the risk of harm”.

It added: “Staff were trained and skilled to meet people’s individual care and support needs. The registered manager monitored the quality of care to ensure the service was of a good standard.

“Lessons were learnt from previous incidents and action had been taken to improve the quality of the service.”

Mr Lewis’s relatives said after the first inquest hearing they want answers over what went wrong.
His daughter Corine said: “For us, dad was stolen from us. He was taken way too quickly. He still had so much life.”