“My 88-year-old mother, who has dementia and is physically severely disabled, was very settled and well cared for at Arlington House for the past two and a half years. My sister, brother-in-law and myself visit her regularly, and we always felt that the staff at Arlington House treated her with care and respect. We pay for her care with no support from Torbay Care Trust. If ever there were any minor issues (which of course arise from time to time when caring for an elderly person with complex needs) the owner or manager of Arlington House always dealt with these to our satisfaction. The overwhelming atmosphere at Arlington House was of loving care.

The first we heard from Torbay Care Trust was a letter dated 26 February which advised us that the home was the subject of a "Safeguarding Whole Home Investigation" and that ¿the owners and management team are committed to working positively to ensure standards are improved¿.

I was therefore completely shocked to receive a phone call from the Trust at the end of Wednesday last week (10 March) saying that the Trust had "urgent concerns"; that the Trust could no longer guarantee to protect residents against "serious risk"; that they and Devon County Council were withdrawing all their funded residents; that the home would be likely to lose staff and become financially unviable; and that if we did not move my mother from Arlington House they would place a Court Protection Order on her which would mean that she would have to move even if we didn¿t want her to!

In subsequent phone calls and meetings with the Trust, we have tried to establish what on earth can have happened to make the Trust take the sudden and drastic action that they did, but we have had no answers which convince us that this level of response was justified.

I called into Arlington House on Thursday evening to be confronted by chaotic scenes ¿ many residents had already been moved against their will. I personally witnessed another private fee-paying relative (who had felt bullied by the Trust into agreeing that her mother would have to move at short notice) arrive at Arlington House to visit her mother only to find that she had already gone (without her medication) to another care home! She was understandably very upset. It was clear that the actions the Trust had taken had made it impossible for Arlington House to survive for very long, and so over the space of four days, including a weekend, we had to arrange to move my mother extremely quickly. This involved liaising with a range of professionals to meet various official requirements; trying to decide in one day on a care home to suit my mother for (hopefully this time) the rest of her life; packing all her belongings in a sensitive manner; coordinating the actual move, including ensuring that all her possessions were in place to welcome her on arrival in her new care home; and doing our best to explain to her what was happening to her. We also did what we could in the middle of it all to go ahead with the peaceful Mother¿s Day visit we had previously planned to our mother, despite feeling stressed and angry.

Luckily, the three of us were able to take time off work at short notice and we finally managed to move my mother yesterday afternoon (Monday 15 March) ¿ a stressful and in our view completely unnecessary upheaval for her.

We feel that the Trust did not take into account the loving care and respect shown by Arlington House owners, management and staff, which are so important for the wellbeing of vulnerable residents, or the damage that a sudden move is bound to cause them; did not ask or otherwise take into account the views or wishes of relatives; and did not give Arlington House long enough to address any issues of concern that the Trust may have had. We are bewildered that a ¿care¿ trust could act in this way. We will be submitting a formal letter of complaint to Torbay Care Trust in due course.”

“I think the lack of comment from the care trust speaks volumes. They are quick enough to confirm the exact horrific failings of other care homes that have rightfully shut down, where is this evidence here? And if they might be concerned about legal proceedings that they couldn't elaborate than the grounds for closing the home seem tenuous if something has yet to be proved in a court.
In the light of some of the stories (Baby P etc) we read about, it is fair to assume that there is a heck of a lot of pressure on commissions to crack down. However, reading comments like 'a pat on the back' and 'well done the whistle blower' make me think of a witchhunt where a lot of people are so shocked to read of the actual atrocities committed on a general level that they are baying for blood and content to believe that the official body of witchhunters is always right in everything they do. What people need to remember is that regulating bodies are human like everyone else and are just as capable of poor judgement and mistakes. Whether this is true of this home remains to be seen....”

“I must admit, I am quite disappointed in the way the Herald Express has reported this story, as it appears extremely one sided. Flick forward a few pages and the story of the 'whistle blower' at a home in Paignton is different altogether; why?

Of course the owner of Arlington House is upset and angry she is losing her livelihood and it's a direct reflection on her failure of ability to provide a caring and competent environment for her residents. The CQC may have awarded the home a 'good' rating on their announced visit but a registered nurse has a duty of care to report any concerns regarding any issues safety and they often turn up unannounced and see far more regarding the 'care' of patients. A pat on the back for them, (what with the current climate of 'whistle blowing' within the NHS!)

According to this article, the trust has spent weeks working with the home improve the conditions for the residents - at a cost to the taxpayer. If they had a ¿hidden agenda¿ why would they attempt this? Their first priority is to the patients, to ensure their safety and wellbeing and report, it was not possible to resolve concerns regarding the quality of care being provided.
I am sorry that the residents have to move and that the staff are going to lose their jobs but at the end of the day, the safety and wellbeing of these vulnerable people is paramount. I am sure Baby P¿s parents would have contested if he had been removed from his home but look at the consequences of this not happening.”

“Have to agree with Ann must be something serious going on that has brought this to a head. The district nurse who made the complaint obviously saw somethig that was not right and I am sorry but the less vunerable need to be protected full stop. A lot of Care Homes are rated good but after its all said and done they are only for the inspection and dont see what goes on 24/7 Unfortunately like all in life there are a few bad apples in each proffession that reek havoc for the good ones. But I do think that the situation on moving the residents may of been handled better if it was indeed handled badly in first place. Also it ought to be asked if the residents that were moved were severe dementia sufferers?? who were unable to say if any problems were occurring.
As for the owner saying "too many monitoring staff had disrupted the routine at the home" well not very helpful was she would she not rather the problem be rectified or be annoyed because routine was disrupted? And yes I know that our more vunerable prefer routine but I would my nans routine be disrupted than have her safety in question.”

“The cqc(care quality commission) they must have had a very good reason to take this abrupt action ,cqc are there to protect the vulnerable adults and care workers alike .At long last action is taken ,not like the previous officers would announce an inspection and give enough time to hide any evidence.I would like to thank cqc for being there, keep up the good work.”

“Seems the C Q S has a hidden agenda here. Why not state clearly why the patients were rounded up and removed. Surely, more respect should be shewn to residents feelings.”