An elderly patient at a care home.iStock/Rawpixel

A recent investigation into a Belfast care home indicated that residents were put under horrendous circumstances wherein they were refused meals for weeks on end, as well as medication.

The Dunmurry Manor care is facing several counts of neglect and abuse of pensioners living there. There were sexual assaults on female patients by other residents and others lost a considerable amount of weight, according to The Irish News.

Some of the details of neglect range from intensely painful bed sores that led to E-coli infections, using the cheapest possible care supplies, and immense weight loss across the board.

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In one instance, a patient had lost an astonishing 140 pounds (10 stone) due to not being fed by the staff.

In light of these actions, relatives have felt as though their loved ones “were simply left to die.” The Commissioner for Older People in Northern Ireland, Eddie Lynch, released these findings that were ultimately met with intense frustration and sadness that a care home could do such things.

Lynch had been approached by two families and former employees as far back as December 2016, indicating that there was something deeply amiss about the facility and the way it is run.

The home was run by an Essex-based company, Runwood Homes, which was also at the brunt of criticism, in addition to the NHS (National Health Service) and other regulatory bodies’ whose jurisdiction this was under.

An inquiry from the Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority, in spite of these accusations, found the Dunmurry home “to be meeting the required standard of care.”

“Elderly people should feel safe in a care home. It is with great sadness and anger I can tell you this was not the case,” said Lynch.

Neglect was not only exercised on the patients but in an administrative sense, nurses were left having to buy their own medical supplies because much of the amenities were out of date and broken.

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“This home was a new facility. It looked modern and nice. But appearances can be deceiving. It’s what went on behind the scenes that really mattered,” Lynch went on to say.