My mum died with a bedsore so big you could put your fist through it - she deserved so much more
A family has been protesting after their elderly relative died with a bedsore big enough to fit a fist in following appalling care in a residental home.
Relatives say that not long before Mary Fallon died at the age of 86 in July 2019, she was covered in bed ulcers, one of which was “big enough to put a fist into”.
Mary’s daughter, Helen Derry, said there were a catalogue of incidents involving her mother during the time she was living at the Highbury House Care Home on Lytham Road, Blackpool which has since closed.
Last year the Care Quality Commission (CQC) said the home failed to ensure Mary Fallon received proper treatment for pressure ulcers.
Owner DM Care was fined £120,000 at Blackpool Magistrates’ Court and also ordered to pay a £170 victim surcharge and £18,000 costs to the Care Quality Commission (CQC), which brought the prosecution. Today Mary Fallon’s relatives staged a protest followed an inquest hearing into her preventable death.
Mrs Derry said the family wanted to protest at what they saw as the terrible failings of Blackpool Council’s Adult Care Service, the Highbury House care staff and the company which owned it, DM Care Ltd.
She said: “My mother was always spotless and cheerful, the sweetest mother you could know.
“It was terrible to see how quickly she deteriorated when she was in that place.
“Before she died, one of her wounds was big enough to insert a fist into.
“There are places in this country which aren’t fit for people to live in and the owners just don’t care.
“At Highbury House, the staff were not qualified to care for my mum and yet they did not seek the medical attention she clearly needed.
“We spoke to Blackpool Council’s Adult Care Team, raising our concerns, but they didn’t take anything on board.
“The culture there is toxic, they will not listen or take onboard relatives’ concerns. All they told us was that she was “happy” there!”
Mary Fallon, who was born in Tobermory on the Island of Mull but lived in Blackpool for more than 20 years, had been suffering from dementia when she first went into the care home in 2018.
She had otherwise been fit and healthy.
But Mrs Derry had become concerned after visiting Highbury House and discovering that her mum’s bedclothes were sopping wet with urine, and that two weeks later the bag of wet clothes was still in the room where they had left it, with the stench of urine filling the room.
It culminated in Mrs Fallon eventually becoming covered in bed ulcers, being found unconscious and having to be taken to Blackpool Victoria Hospital.
Sadly, it was too late to save her and she died of multiorgan failure.
Mrs Derry said Highbury House had been put into special measures for sever years leading up to her mum’s death - but despite concerns raised - it did not improve and yet continued to operate.
She added: “I would like to see the whole rotten system broken up and started again, so that vulnerable elderly people get the care they need and are not at the mercy of staff and owners who are not qualified to run care institutions.
“Our mum died so that others who were staying in Highbury House could live - now that place is finally shut down.
“It should have been shut down much sooner.”
Blackpool Council was approached for a comment.
DM Care was not available for comment.
Blackpool and Fylde Conorers office said it would be sending the Gazette a copy of the Record of Inquest, once this had been finalised.