Glasgow residential centre was closed on the day elderly inmate died, GMC is told Doctor admits home failures

Conditions in the home were revealed in The Herald, in February 1994.

Miss Jocelyn Sparks, counsel to the GMC, told its professional conduct committee that Dr Sarker, co-proprietor of the Glenglova Residential Home in Glasgow with his wife and two sons, left the home with inadequate heating and food, and with ``totally inappropriate'' standards of hygiene.

Mrs Agnes McCabe, 79, was taken to the city's Victoria Infirmary in November 1993, with extensive bedsores, caused by not being turned often enough.

Her nephew John, who visited her in hospital before her death on December 1, 1993, said she was ``like something out of a concentration camp''.

Normally, residential homes were visited about twice a year, but Strathclyde Social Services inspectors were so concerned about Glenglova that they made 52 visits in one year.

Miss Sparks said inspectors ordered that the temperature should be monitored frequently since they found it was sometimes as low as 60F in winter.

Food was inadequate, staff levels were poor, and record keeping non-existent or inadequate.

Cleaning facilities were extremely limited and there were very few cleaning materials for lavatory bowls or patients' linen.

When Mr McCabe complained about his aunt's condition, Dr Sarker replied: ``She's not too bad for a woman of 79.''

Care assistants had tried to alleviate Mrs McCabe's bedsores, but she had a fit and was taken to the hospital, where a consultant found large, infected pressure sores on her hips and legs. There was also severe dehydration symptoms.

Despite treatment she died. The cause of death was given as broncho-pneumonia, infected pressure sores and dementia.

Miss Sparks said the home was shut down by the Strathclyde authority on the same day as Mrs McCabe died.

Dr Sarker admits failing to provide or arrange for adequate medical treatment for Mrs McCabe.

He also admits regularly failing to ensure that the residents at the home received adequate and wholesome food; that the home was adequately heated and staffed; and that appropriate standards of hygiene were maintained.

He denies regularly failing to ensure that adequate care was provided for all the residents of the home, and that adequate medical records were maintained.

Strathclyde Community Care officer Mr James Nisbet told the committee he was ``appalled'' at the state of the home.

He discovered a resident's dentures ``covered in green algae and a faeces stained sponge'' in a sink and a lack of warmth - both in actual temperature and in the atmosphere at the home.

When he questioned Dr Sarker about the sponge he replied: ``You don't understand - it's the back passage sponge.'' He said the residents appeared dirty. ``Their hair was poor and their skin lacked lustre.''

When he spoke to Dr Sarker about his concerns over the food, he had replied: ``Show me any of these residents who is malnourished.'' A health official found cauliflower ``black with mould'' in the fridge at the home and ``greasy, watery soup'', the committee heard.

Linda Burns, assistant district officer for elderly people in Strathclyde, said the soup was ``perhaps the most unappetising soup I have ever seen.

``There were dirty, rotten looking vegetables in it and it was watery and greasy, with huge chunks of bread in it.'' Mrs Burns said she had also seen residents who appeared not to have bathed or had their hair washed for a long time.

The only male resident she had spoken to in September or October 1993 had told her he had not been given a bath since May of that year.

Earlier, Mr McCabe told the committee he received an urgent phone call to go to see his aunt in the Victoria Infirmary.

He said he had been shocked by her appearance.

``To be honest, I was frightened out of my wits. It was horrendous. It was like something out of a concentration camp.''

Mrs Lynda MacClean, the home's former manager and a qualified nurse, said she was shocked when she took over at the home and found that residents had apparently not been washed for some time.

One resident in particular, who had suffered a stroke and was doubly incontinent, had not had a bath for two years.

Dr Sarker told her, when she confronted him with her concerns, that he looked after his residents before going to his GP practice.

Mrs MacClean said she thought Mrs McCabe, in particular, should have been in a nursing home rather than a residential home.

Former care assistant Kathleen Morrison told the committee she had numerous worries about the home, particularly about the bathrooms and showers.

``I came on duty one morning and I heard someone screaming. I went into the shower room and I saw one of the residents being given a cold water shower by the doctor's wife, Enu.'' She said she was very shocked at what she had seen and left the home shortly after.

Mrs Morrison claimed she had sometimes had to wear a jacket in the home because the heating was not turned on. There was no hot water and it was difficult to clean the toilets because of lack of cleaning equipment.

She added that she was not happy with the food given to residents and she did not consider their diet to be adequate. She said: ``I used to take lots of home-made soup for the residents.'' Mrs Morrison said the residents were generally ``grubby and untidy'' and she was very concerned about Mrs McCabe.

Dr Robin Northcote, a consultant at the Victoria Infirmary, who received Mrs McCabe when she was admitted in November 1993, said: ``The patient was clearly a very ill lady, virtually immobile, doubly incontinent and emaciated and with severe bedsores.'' Mrs McCabe had responded to treatment within 24 hours but medical staff were unable to save her life.

``I had photographs taken because they were the worst bedsores I have seen in my entire career,'' added Dr Northcote.

The hearing continues today.