‘You are responsible for death of our loved ones’
Relatives of those who died under care of agency tell Town Hall they have failed the vulnerable
Friday, 22nd December 2023 — By Charlotte Chambers
Debbie Fossey (left) and Michael Taylor (right), who lost their aunt last year, and Emma Hall, whose ex-partner died in 2021
THE bereaved relatives of people who died while under the care of agency staff have told Islington care chiefs: “You are responsible for their deaths.”
Speaking at a meeting on Monday that scrutinised the social care offered by Islington, the families of Paul Lewis and Rose Hollingworth told care chiefs they had failed some of the borough’s most vulnerable tenants.
Both Mr Lewis and Ms Hollingworth died in their homes after failings by care agencies appointed by Islington.
Speaking to care chiefs at the Town Hall on Monday, Mr Lewis’s ex-partner Emma Hall said: “I do not want Islington to be able to brush this under the carpet and say that they’re not responsible because they are totally responsible. You are responsible for the people that you employ.”
Paul Lewis
At an inquest into his death, which concluded last month, St Pancras coroner Mary Hassell returned a ruling of unlawful killing by way of gross negligence manslaughter after carers left him with lit tealights on his bed and his Telecare pendant out of reach. Mr Lewis, 46, who suffered from MS, was completely immobile and was left shouting for help as he was trapped in his burning bed at his home in Hanley Gardens, Stroud Green, in August 2021.
Mr Lewis was receiving care from Snowball Care for six years. Initially, Islington said it was working with Snowball to improve its service and refused to criticise it.
On Monday, after weeks of questioning from Mr Lewis’s family and the Tribune – it confirmed it has severed ties with the company.
Also a client of Snowball’s, and another care agency called HomeDotCare (HDC), Ms Hollingworth died in January 2022 after suffering a stroke.
However, at her inquest in July, coroner Jonathan Stevens said there were “significant failings” in her care and described feeling “concerned” by some of HDC’s actions after she was left for hours in a pool of her own vomit and blood.
Rose Hollingworth
In what became a heated exchange at times as feelings ran high in the meeting, both Ms Hall and Ms Hollingworth’s niece Debbie Fossey criticised the social care team for not monitoring the agencies they contract out care to.
Ms Hall said: “I just have so many issues, and I don’t think there’s been any lessons learned to be honest.
“Paul, he had a review done in 2014. He didn’t have another one until 2019. No one was checking these records. No one was checking this agency, the coroner said she’d never seen such breathtaking complacency from a manager of an agency.”
Ms Fossey said: “We can’t sleep at night because we don’t want this to happen to anybody else.”
But she said trying to communicate with Islington “feels like we’re smacking our head against a wall”.
Councillor Nurullah Turan, Islington’s executive member for health and social care, has vowed to look into the complaints raised.
Ms Fossey appealed to other Islington residents to get in touch at RHPL2122@yahoo.com with any concerns they have about care agencies.
