Undercover: Elderly Care Panorama

Tonight on Panorama. A care home for the elderly.

It is just totally sadistic. A daughter takes matters into her

own hands. She is trying to protect her mother.

So, they have just dumped her on the bed.

Two nights inside an elderly care home, filmed on a secret camera.

You could hear the poor lady cry out in pain. People were being

treated with less respect than slabs of meat.

And the fight to prevent other vulnerable old people suffering the

same abuse. How can you go into a home where abuse is actually

happened and it has literally been caught on film and then turn around

I'm on my way to see someone whose actions could help change how we

treat older people. It's personal for me. My mum needed

to live in a care home for the last three years of her life.

Hi, Fi. How are you? Good. Jane Worroll's mother, Maria was

mistreated when she flifd a north London care home.

This is some photos of mum. She's beautiful in that, isn't she?

Gorgeous. I really couldn't have asked for a

better mum, really. I feel like as a person she has got the biggest

heart. Always laughing, always joking. Just really strong. Really

independent. Really independent as a parent.

But then, Jane's mother became ill and needed more and more care.

Maria was diagnosed with Alzheimer's, the most common form

of dementia. Uentally she could barely communicate and needed help

with nearly all aspects of her life, including personal care.

I kept her at home living independently for as long as I

could. She started falling over a lot.

Then one day came -- I came around to find she had not moved at all

from her bed and she could not move. Jane reluctantly picked a care home

for her mother. A care home called Ash Court. A new-build block

nestled in the middle of a residential north London square. A

60-bedroom home on three floors that provides nursing and respite

care. Jane chose it after reading a report by the national regulator,

the Care Quality Commission. I was naive to a lot of it, but

reading the CQC report it had an excellent rating which is obviously

all you have to go against as a gauge against what the care home is

like. It gave it an excellent rating.

Even though the CQC said that Ash Court was "excellent" Jane began to

worry about her mother. Six weeks in after arriving at Ash

Court I noticed there was bruising on her arms and hands. It was like

fingerprint bruising now, when I look back on it. Small fingerprint

bruegs. Jane was told that Maria was

bruising easily as she was taking aspirin. Months later, Jane was

worried, she decided to do something.

She seemed so upset and down. I felt the only way I could know was

to record it. I was not thinking anything. I just wanted to see what

my mum's life was like. We decided to buy this small digital camera it

looks like a digital clock. The first attempts to film in

Jane's moth's bedroom failed. The camera position at the bottom of

the bed did not work. Or the memory ran out. Then on June the 17th, the

camera worked. Everyone who entered into the bedroom was recorded. The

sound quality is poor, but clear. We have cut down the two-and-a-half

hours of footage that Jane filmed, we have not left out good care or

good carers. This is two nights in Maria Worroll's life at Ash Court.

This is them putting my mum to bed. Yes, at 5730pm? Yes, I am shocked

it is that early. I thought it was later than that. Normally they

would have done about 6.30pm or 7 .3 0 pm, but this is early.

The two carers from the Philippines lift Maria by the shoulders.

Oh,... Although Jane has watched the footage before, this is the

first time I've seen it. They have just dumped her on the

bed. Dumped her and she does not know

what is happening. And she's got arthritis.

They just chucked her and then walked off! I asked a leading

specialist in dementia care to watch the footage of two nights in

Maria's life at Ash Court. He says unless there is a fire, staff

should use a mechanical hoist and painlessly get Maria to bed. They

were available. It is like being treated like an

object. Like a sack of potatoes being moved from A to B rather than

a human being. If you have dementia, how do you cope with something like

that? If she goes to bed at 5.30pm in the evening in a room that is

stark, bare with nothing to look at. What is this person going to do for

the rest of the evening? Maria had been living at Ash Court for nearly

a year by the time that Jane hid the camera in her bedroom.

They are not speaking to her, either.

No, they are speaking Filipino. I have never known what they are

saying. We translated it, but it is unclear

what they are talking about. But very little is about Maria or

her care. How frightening for her, she looks

bewildered. Oh, dear.

You can see they have hurt her now. Absolutely.

They have put a bag on her head, lovely.

Oh, my goodness! Her wrists are really sore. All of her joints are

really sore. So all of that Yanking and chucking.

It is like she is cattle. You see farmers do that. Oh, God! They

should be putting a sheet under Maria to move her, not yanking her.

Especially designed slip-sheets were in her bedroom.

All of these things, like where I saw the bruises makes sense. It was

all fingerprint marks and they were on the hands.

That is them gripping her by the arm.

And that is her job. And that is her getting to bed.

That is her evening. Later that same night a different

carer briefly visits Maria. And she comes back 40 minutes later

with a colleague. There is no greeting for Maria when

the two carers arrive to bathe her. So again there is no, "Hi Maria, we

are coming in." They switch the TV on for their benefit.

And this is the whole time she has been in bed from 5.30pm, she is

just staring at the ceiling. Their job is done, good night. The

TV is off. That is for their benefit.

Nine hours later, early morning, the same two carers are back. This

time to give Maria her morning bath. Maria has been in bed for 13 hours.

This is the morning. I think it is the same two you have

just seen. They are probably coming to the end

of their shift. The carers start to talk about life

at Ash Court and their colleagues. While they are talking Maria tries

to resist them removing her sheets, so they pull harder.

She is just ripping the sheets off. The way that they just grab hold of

her limbs... Look at that, they have just slapped her away again.

The carers start to talk about They soon begin talking about their

Our expert recognises these sorts of comments from other homes.

So, they are angry themselves, aren't they? This is the thing.

Yes. You know, care staff do find it difficult. They are paid little

money, as this lady is saying, but with no more are staff that

person's experience can be different.

But unless you address the care cultures they are left to fester

and fester. That is where you get these kind of really unacceptable

practises. They just need to be taken out.

The carer is wishing Maria a good sleep, if only between her morning

bath at 6.30 pm and her breakfast two hours later.

We don't know if Maria slept or just staired at the ceiling. Until

one of the two carers from the night before put her to bed roughly

walks in. She is here to feed Maria. Later after the breakfast, staff

took Maria out of her room as usual, but by then Jane's camera stopped

working. The last recording is at 9.00am.

No word of a greeting. That TV has been off the whole time.

I specifically told them not to leave her lying, to let her have a

TV or magazine or something. It is porridge. She also has a

cooked breakfast there as well. Just nothing.

The carer starts to give Maria breakfast, then breaks off to

switch on the TV so she can watch it while feeding her.

So, she has finally put the telly Because she is looking at it, that

is why. There is no speech at all. And there is this switching from

spoonfuls of porridge back to scrambled egg and whatever else it

is. Do you know what I mean? Maria is being fed too quickly. The carer

gives a spoonful roughly every 13 seconds. Even when a carer that

Jane believes is a nurse to pass through to help to give medication.

She is choking because it is getting shovelled in.

It is not the only time that Maria's feeders are impatient. On

the second night Jane's secret camera was filming when Maria was

given this drink. Open your mouth! That is her drink

for the evening. What can she do? She can't write down help, she

cannot say help, you Sian not get up and run away. She just has to

endure it. That is horrible. Maria's first day of being secretly

filmed at Ash Court is over. To me this is the whole sequence,

it is everything. Being put to bed in a manner that is painful. You

are thrown into bed. Nothing is told as to what is happening. It is

a new day, it is a new beginning. There is no communication.

Everything is shovelled in. There is no joy, no tenderness, empathy.

There is nothing. I was horrified, to see that. To see that was a day

Jane took the secret footage out of Ash Court. The clock had a memory

card in it, which you would put into a laptop to view the images. I

was not aware what I was going to see. I just felt completely at ease.

Sitting at home, she saw the rough handling and speed fielding and was

horrified. -- feeding. I just thought, I want to put it in for

another time, I wanted to see if it was a one-off. It was a really hard

decision. But worse was to come. Three days later, Jane put the

camera back into her mother's room for a second night. It is just

after 7pm and, against her daughter's requests and the Home's

policies, a male care is alone with Maria. He is giving her Hernych

bath. He should not even being there. -- Hernych to Bath. She is

frightened already. Just pushing her Rover. I don't know how he got

Playing it again, I can't see anything that would have provoked

He mocks her. He's twisting her arm. This male carer is 30-year-old

Jonathan Aquino. Ash Court hired him in the Philippines, where he

was a qualified nurse, and arranged his work permit to come to the UK

in 2008. The Metropolitan Police later interviewed people who knew

dock and the Queen now. Nobody suspected him. Colleagues, other

residents, other families of residents, they knew him as a

perfectly amenable sort of chap. Having seen the CCTV footage, one

questions why was this? That he chose to have a different demeanour

when he is on his own. I don't know. It is 7:15pm. After hitting hair,

he continues to give her her Gosh, I can't imagine what your

mother must have been feeling. Terrified. What can she do? She

Remember, Jonathan should not even be in the room. Maria should be

moved by two carers, using slip Oh, dear. In all, Jonathan slaps

One final slap, just to make sure? During the seven minutes he is

filmed in the room, he never speaks, except to say where or to mock, by

imitating head. That is health. I'm sorry, every time I see him,

it's just awful. It is awful. Can you imagine? I screamed, actually,

when I first saw it. Jonathan Aquino leaves Maria's room at

7:20pm. I just remember screaming, jumping up. I just wanted to tear

the house apart. She is just so vulnerable. She cannot get up, she

cannot call for help. It is just totally sadistic. She drove

straight to the care home and showed the manager her footage.

was just feeling physically sick. The person I wanted to be with was

my mum. I just wanted to go to her, scoop her rapper. Eventually, when

I did get to her, I was, like, it's going to stop now. You are safe now.

None of this is going to happen any more. All five of the main carers

that she filmed were suspended. One of those five, Jonathan Aquino, was

arrested. I can remember him not answering any questions to the

police in the interview. What was his demeanour during that

interview? It was a bit of a blank, a vacant look. Whether or not that

was something he chose to put on to try to forget it and not recall

what had happened, I don't know. But it was very much that he was

there in person, but... Bizarre. Both the police and social workers

took action. Although the manager of Ash Court suspended all of the

staff that train filmed for any length of time, Jane felt that the

company then wanted to sweep it under the carpet. But then chief-

executive wrote to Jane a month after her mother was assaulted

saying that now was a good opportunity to move forward

positively. Jane needed support. She came here, Toopi Relatives &

Residents Association, a small national charity, based around the

corner from her. The head of the charity is horrified that the care

home did not prevent the abuse in the first place. How could five

different workers not know that she had to be moved gently? How could

anyone managing at home not notice that a hoist was not going into

that room? You could hear the poor lady crying out in pain at the way

she was being moved. That does not suggest a one-off problem. It

suggests a deep, cultural problem in that home, where people were

being treated with less respect than slabs of meat. Jonathan Aquino

had been arrested for assault and ill-treatment. But Ash Court was

still employing the other four female carers. The chief executive

wrote to Jane saying her mother's treatment was not gross misconduct

and that all four would be returning to work. They were going

to put these people back, after four days' training, being

supervised, they didn't really considerate gross misconduct. They

were actually about to go back to work. I was just horrified. 5 and a

half months after the manager of Ash Court watched the footage, the

company finally sacked the other four care workers. We asked the

owners, Forest Healthcare, to talk to us. I wanted to ask why they did

not act more swiftly to sack care workers who manhandled and speed-

fed Maria, why they did not prevent the abuse in the first place. They

refused, instead sending a statement saying that what was

filmed was an isolated incident, even though all of the five main

care workers had to be sacked. Forest Healthcare say that even

though Jane complained to a number of carers, the family had not

raised concerns with the home manager prior to showing the video

footage. After the manager of the home watched the footage, the

company requested to see it a second time, to complete the

disciplinary process. Immediately after viewing it again, they say,

we completed proceedings and all four were dismissed. The companies

say that all of their staff receive full training. They say Ash Court

is committed to working closely with all families and residents and

that they continue to get positive feedback on their care, which is

subject to continual improvement. Jonathan Aquino pleaded guilty to

common assault and ill-treatment. But it is not just the four carers

who have been sacked and the one in court. What about the national

regulator, the Care Quality Commission, who rated the home

excellent? The inspectors took at least three months to produce a

report. When they did, they concluded that Ash Court ensures

that people who use the service are protected from abuse. Their rights

are respected and upheld. Jane is angry that the report does not warn

the public that her mother was mistreated and assaulted. Instead,

it says, the local council was alerted to safeguarding consents.

They also say that the police were informed that some staff were

suspended, pending an investigation, and that an action plan is in place.

The regulator told Panorama, the fact that a serious incident has

taken place is made very clear. When I read it, just another slap

around the face. I just felt like they had basically given it a clean

bill of health again, Bart two minor adjustments. It makes me

worry for the people who are potentially about to put a relative

into a care home. How can you actually going to wear home where

abuse has actually happened, it has literally been caught on film, and

then turn around and say that it is compliant? Words fail me. You know,

I just feel really let down. head of the charity supporting Jane

is also angry about the CQC's report. It does not say that a

member of staff has been charged. It is not an honest document. It

isn't a helpful document. It isn't a decent document. This is really

an area where the CQC can do so much, if it uses its powers. They

can actually cancel the provider's registration, if they are shown not

to be fit. We would suggest that provider was very clearly shown not

to be fit. We asked the Care Quality Commission for an interview

but they refused. They did send the statement, which says, we will

always act swiftly to protect people where we see poor care. Now,

they say they inspected within four days of learning what happened to

Maria and that they received positive feedback from people at

home. Both they and the council did not find any new evidence of poor

practice or abuse. If we had done so, we would have taken action.

Inspectors recently returned to the home, again and announced, and

found improvements. They told us, CQC is confident it has acted

swiftly and correctly in light of The Jonathan Aquino attended court

He was sentenced to 18 months. After his time in prison, he may be

Maria Worroll is in a new home, where Jane says she is happier.

Would you like a biscuit? Hi, how are you doing? Nice to see you.

This is Maria. This is Fiona, mum. Lovely to see her under different

circumstances. I know, totally. does it make you feel, seeing your

mum in such a different situation? Much better. She is much happier.

She is dressed properly, she is clean, her hair has been done, she

looks happy. She is, a lot happier. Maria is not at Ash Court any

longer, but the care home remains open. Social workers say they are

monitoring the home closely. The police say they would not advise

people to secretly filming care homes. But if this is what two

nights of filming has revealed in one care home, how many other cases

like this are there? Next week, it will be five years

since three-year-old Madeleine McCann disappeared in Portugal. Is