Wallyford nursing home '˜treated grandad like a dog' says family of resident

Callum Houston (left) and Gordon Wallace (right)

The Evening News reported this week how inspectors passed a damning report on Drummohr Nursing Home in Wallyford after finding residents underweight and unwashed.

Now the family of dementia sufferer Gordon Wallace, 75, have told how he was left in ill-fitting clothes and with straggly hair.

“He’s worked all his days, paid his taxes and now he’s been treated like a dog,” raged grandson Callum Houston, 33.

Mr Houston said his granddad’s room at Drummohr was left messy, a suggestion which is denied by the home.

Now his family say the care home asked him to leave they complained about conditions – an allegation also denied by the home.

New care report finds residents unwashed and underweight at Wallyford facility

Mr Houston said“He was getting dirty and scruffy and we made various complaints to management,” he added.

“We complained about him not getting his haircut and that he’d lost all his clothes. He was sitting in clothes that weren’t fitting him.”

Former scaffolder Mr Wallace, from Musselburgh, was initially in Levenhall Care Home in the town but transferred to Drummohr after it closed in February.

“He went to the previous care homes and there were no problems,” said Mr Houston. “But every time we were going into Drummohr, we were complaining about it – about three times a week.

“The next thing we know, they said he’s violent and that they’re removing him.”

His family say Mr Wallace has since been admitted to hospital in Bonnyrigg – but the stigma remains.

“When a care home says a resident is violent, none of the others want him because they look for the previous care home’s report.”

In response to the family’s comments, the home said: “We can clarify that Mr Wallace was not given notice to leave Drummohr at any time by the home. The decision for him to be cared for elsewhere was taken by an independent multidisciplinary panel of local healthcare experts who felt another home would be better able to meet his specific care needs.”

Mr Houston says his family is now fighting to stop his grandad getting “palmed off” to Berwick-upon-Tweed which would mean less visits from loved ones.

A spokeswoman for home owners HC-One said: “The health, happiness, and wellbeing of our residents is, and always will be, our number one priority. As such, we always take complaints from their loved ones very seriously. We have a robust process in place to make sure complaints are handled appropriately, which includes the ability to directly email both our CEO and Chairman.

“We are sorry to hear Mr Wallace’s family feel dissatisfied with the services we provided, and that we fell short of the standards we aspire to and they rightly expect. This is not the experience of the vast majority of the families we serve, which is why our home is rated nine out of ten on the independent care home comparison website, carehome.co.uk.

“We of course recognise the outcome of the recent Care Inspectorate review and know we need to do better in some other areas, although we are pleased the report does highlight we have made very significant positive progress in recent months.”